Carolina Hurricanes: Win Streak Ends at the Hands of Tampa Bay

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RALEIGH, NC – MARCH 21: Justin Faulk #27 of the Carolina Hurricanes gets tangled up in the crease with Louis Domingue #70 of the Tampa Bay Lightning during an NHL game on March 21, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

3. Too Many Penalties

As our very own site expert pointed out during the Lightning Capitals game last night, the Tampa Bay power play is good:

It’s no coincidence that the best team in the league as the best power play in the league. It’s not hard to imagine that the Hurricanes no how good this power play is. If they did, they didn’t seem to play like they did. To be fair, the officiating did not help. There were more than a couple of questionable calls. Regardless, you cannot give the officials the benefit of the doubt against a team this could with the man advantage.

More than a couple penalties looked sloppy and undisciplined, including one the the dying minutes of the third period with the game on the line that allowed the Lightning to ice the game. Micheal Ferland took a tripping penalty that was not exactly that much of a trip, but you can’t have your stick near a guys feet like that with the game on the line. As discussed earlier, this was not a must-win, like the Penguins game was, and like the Montreal game will be on Sunday (I’m inclined to say Minnesota is pretty must-win as well), but it was a game the Canes could have won.

23. Final. 3. 109. 6

The Hurricanes are in a great spot with nine games to go. They can recover from this. It is a good thing that relatively undisciplined games are uncharacteristic of this team. But they need to stay that way.

Next. Hurricanes sign Mattheos to ELC. dark

Question for CC Readers: How much of this loss would you pin on the officials in comparison to the team just being outplayed by a better Tampa team?

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