Lightning Look to Grab 2-0 Series Lead Against Hurricanes Tonight

Tue, Jun 1, 2021
By Jim Vassallo (Veri.bet Writer)

The Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, June 1, at 7:30 PM ET at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Lightning leads this second-round NHL playoff series 1-0 after a 2-1 victory in game one on Sunday, May 30. The loss was the first of this postseason for the Hurricanes at home after a six-game first-round series victory over the Florida Panthers.

Tonight’s playoff contest will be the 10th time these two teams have met this season.

Barclay Goodrow scored the winning goal for the Lightning in the middle of the third period and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 37 shots in the winning effort.

“He can just track the puck so well,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Never gives up on a puck and just stays to his strengths out there. ... We know he's a big backbone back there.”

“The puck had eyes, obviously," Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said about Goodrow’s goal. "But good things happen when you shoot the puck. That was a good example of it.”

Carolina goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves in the loss.

“It's no use hiding it ... it was a bad goal,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “He made a lot of good saves tonight, too. That's part of it. We'll bounce back and he'll bounce back. We've got to score more than one to win anyway. That's the way I look at it.”

The lone Carolina goal came via the power play when Jake Bean found twine early in the third period. The Hurricanes have home-ice advantage in this series after being crowned the Central Division champions.

“I think we have another level,” Bean said, adding: "We knew this wasn't going to come off without any kind of adversity.”

Tampa Bay scored first, marking the sixth time in seven games where the Hurricanes allowed the first goal of the game this postseason.

Carolina will likely be without Nino Niederreiter in game two with an upper-body injury, according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour.

"That's a goal scorer," said Brind'Amour. "You don't replace that. He's on the power play, too. That's an offensive weapon that goes out the window, but it's playoffs. It's next man up. Got to fill the shoes."

If Tampa Bay wins game two tonight, it will be the third time in their last four playoff series to take a 2-0 lead.

The injury list for game two is as follows:

• Nino Niederreiter (CAR): day-to-day (upper-body).
• David Savard (TB): day-to-day (upper-body).
• Erik Cernak (TB): day-to-day (undisclosed).
• Barclay Goodrow (TB): out (upper-body).

The Hurricanes are -1.5 goal favorites at home tonight. Carolina also has the money line at -115. The Over/Under is set at 5.5 total goals. The Lightning are the defending Stanley Cup champions, so don’t expect them to ease up on the gas just yet. Despite this, the Hurricanes 20-3-5 at home this season, a statistics that cannot be overlooked. Place your bets on the Hurricanes at -1.5 on Tuesday night to even the series at one game apiece.