Jake Guentzel scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a four-game home losing streak by rallying for a 6-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.
After answering Carolina’s three-goal first period with three goals of their own in the second, the Lightning traded goals in the third until Guentzel jammed home a marker for a 5-4 edge at 6:38.
Guentzel then added his 17th goal, an empty-netter, for the club’s third win in 10 games (3-6-1).
Ryan McDonagh tallied a goal and an assist, and Gage Goncalves, Brayden Point and Jack Finley also found the twine. Dominic James and Charle-Edouard D’Astous had two assists apiece. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves.
Nikita Kucherov (illness) returned to the lineup after a one-game absence.
Eric Robinson, Jackson Blake, Bradly Nadeau and Andrei Svechnikov scored goals for Carolina, but the Metropolitan club lost both games (0-1-1) of its back-to-back set.
Goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 23 shots and Jesperi Kotkaniemi posted his 200th NHL point with an assist.
Kochetkov starred right away by stopping a pair of early breakaways, including one by Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh.
Raddysh still factored in the game’s first goal, committing a turnover on an outlet pass that Jordan Staal picked off. Staal whipped a pass to Robinson, who rattled home the team’s first goal at 2:42.
On the game’s first power play, Blake scored at the four-minute mark when he deflected Nikolaj Ehlers’ intentionally wide shot-pass in for a 2-0 advantage.
During a four-minute power play, Nadeau banged home his second goal at 12:27 when he found a loose puck out front.
The team called up the 20-year-old right winger after top goal scorer Seth Jarvis was injured in the 4-3 shootout loss Saturday night at the Panthers.
The home side awakened and were buzzing in the second, as Goncalves and Point hit the net in the first 80 seconds to trail by one. Finley notched his second career goal at 16:36 as the match was squared at three-all after 40 minutes.
In the third, Svechnikov and McDonagh exchanged tallies 26 seconds apart for a 4-all tie before Guentzel shoved in the game-winning goal and later added the empty-netter.
–Field Level Media
