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.

Grab the Game Early

The Lightning caught the Carolina Hurricanes on their heels right from the puck drop on Monday.

Tampa Bay possessed the puck incredibly well, they were playing with speed, they shut down the Hurricanes’ transition game, and were peppering James Reimer with quality chances. Kudos to Reimer throughout that game, by the way; he stood on his head.

However, I don’t care if you have Dominik Hasek in net for you, if you let this Tampa Bay team control the first period like Carolina did on Monday, it’s not going to end well.

The shots through 18 minutes were 11-2 in favor of the Lightning, but the score was 1-0 Canes, thanks to Jesper Fast‘s first goal as a Hurricane.

Thankfully, a power play bailed the Canes out and allowed them to gain some momentum back heading into the first intermission. If it wasn’t for James Reimer’s stellar performance, the Canes could have easily been down by multiple goals after the first.

Trocheck Line Keeps Going

So far this season, the Carolina Hurricanes’ “second” forward line of Nino Niederreiter, Vincent Trocheck, and Martin Necas has been far and away the most successful at both ends of the ice.

Trocheck has recorded a team-leading 16 points (tied with Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho) through as many games and is tied with Niederreiter for a team-leading 9 goals.

Necas hasn’t found the back of the net as much as I’m sure he would like to, but his performance has been incredible in possessing and distributing the puck with 2 goals and 9 assists through 14 games. Most notably, “Junior” has been exciting to watch on the power play. His cross-ice seam pass is becoming a signature in his bag of tricks.

Trocheck’s line led all four Hurricanes’ lines with 8 shots-on-goal in the loss to Tampa, resulting in only one assist for Necas on the night. Unfortunately they ran into a red-hot Andrei Vasilevskiy, but if they continue that type of pressure throughout the upcoming road trip, their success is easily sustainable.

Game Notes

Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay, Florida

TV: Fox Sports Carolinas

Radio: 99.9 The Fan

Uniforms: Away Whites

Potential Lineup:

• Svechnikov – Aho – McGinn
• Niederreiter – Trocheck – Necas
• Foegele – Staal – Fast
• Paquette – Lorentz – Martinook
• Slavin – Hamilton
• Skjei – Pesce
• Gardiner – Bean

Potential Goalie Matchup:

Carolina: Alex Nedeljkovic, 2-1-0, .911 SV%, 2.44 GAA

Tampa Bay: Andrei Vasilevskiy, 10-3-1, .931 SV%, 2.01 GAA