Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Bounce Back in Tampa Bay

After a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night, the Carolina Hurricanes begin a five-game road trip, and will continue their four-game series with Tampa Bay tonight in Amalie Arena.

Tampa Bay bounced back in strong fashion after the Hurricanes handed them a 4-0 shutout loss on Saturday, splitting the series at a win apiece. Not only will games three and four be on the road, they will also be played back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday.

Playing the defending Stanley Cup champs is never a simple task, especially when you play them in the equivalent of a bare minimum playoff series of four games in six days. In game two, Andrei Vasilevskiy looked much more like himself, stopping 34 of 36 shots, and Tampa’s stars showed up in a big way to snuff out the Canes’ hopes of a comeback.

I have seen a majority of the Hurricanes’ Twitter community say that splitting games with Tampa this season will be a success in and of itself, and I wholeheartedly agree. Tampa is one of the most complete teams in the league with veteran leadership, astronomically skilled players, and a Vezina-awarded goaltender who has been as consistent as you’d like to see.

Starting this five-game road trip in the belly of the beast, the Carolina Hurricanes have their work cut out for them. Here are the three keys for the Canes to bounce back against the Bolts.