Game Recap: Power Play Leads Bolts Over ‘Canes 3-1

Brian Boyle, Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 last night.

Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman had two assists each.

Tampa Bay’s third-ranked power play got the better of the Hurricanes’ top-ranked short-handed unit in the first, converting two of three chances.

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Jonathan Drouin scored a power play goal late in the first period to make it 2-0 Lightning. Drouin’s 11th goal of the year was assisted by Kucherov (22) and Ondrej Palat (11) at  19:50. Drouin scored just as the first penalty of a 5 on 3 expired. He fired one past Carolina goalie Cam Ward from the left circle. It was Drouin’s team leading sixth power play goal.

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The period ended with the Bolts outshooting the “Canes 12-6 and connecting on two of three man advantages.

The second period saw Alex Killorn score his 12th of the year from Mathew Peca (1) and Hedman (26) at 13:22. Peca passed from the boards to Killorn down low where Killorn shot the puck past Ward. For Peca it was his first NHL point.

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The ‘Canes Sebastian Aho got behind the Lightning defense and backhanded a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 15:20.

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The second stanza ended with the Bolts ahead 3-1 and Tampa Bay outshooting Carolina 19-18.

The Bolts lost Brian Boyle to a lower body injury suffered in the second period.

The third period was scoreless as the Bolts  closed out 2016 with a 3-1 win over Carolina and improved to 19-15-4 (42 points)

Hedman on the win: “That’s a good way to end the year on a high note.”

Coach Cooper on scoring two power-play goals last night: “The key for us was we won every face-off before the goals.”

Carolina equipment manager Jorge Alves played the last 7.6 seconds of the Hurricanes’ 3-1 loss Saturday night to the Tampa Bay Lightning after signing a professional tryout contract to be the backup goalie in place of Eddie Lack, who is ill.

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Tampa Bay will host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday at 7:30 PM.

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