RALEIGH — Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour gave Sebastian Aho the morning off, saying his star center — recently back from winning a bronze medal in Italy — was “run down.” Aho described himself as “gassed” after the game.
But not enough to not come through for Carolina.
Aho’s third period power play goal off a knuckling shot and past a Jordan Staal screen proved to be the difference as the Hurricanes beat the Lightning 5-4 Thursday in Raleigh to extend their point streak to 11 games.
“It came through, right?” Brind’Amour said of Aho and the power play.
With Gage Goncalves in the box for tripping, Seth Jarvis kept a Tampa Bay clearing attempt from exiting the zone at the right point. Carolina cycled the puck around the right side of the ice until Jarvis rotated to the left point and delivered a pass back to Aho.
Aho didn’t get all of his one-timer, but the fluttering shot made its way through Lightning goalie Jonas Johansson (28 saves) at 7:17 of the third period to give Carolina the winning goal.
“When you can match their special teams and go away and say, ‘Well, they got one, we got one,’ that’s really what you need to do,” said Brind’Amour.
The Lightning had tied the game on their first power play of the night, needing just six seconds to convert when Brayden Point scored his 14th of the year to make it 4-4 at 14:01 of the second period.
But that mostly ended a back-and-forth opening two periods that saw both teams look as if they had just come off long vacations.
“Everything that went on in that game is kind of what you knew was coming,” Brind’Amour said.
It started with the Hurricanes jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first six-plus minutes.
Carolina opened the scoring when defenseman K’Andre Miller hit Nikolaj Ehlers in stride with a stretch pass up the right wing. The Danish Olympian turned on the jets and fired a far-side shot past Johansson for his 15th goal of the season to give Carolina a 1-0 lead at 1:43 of the game.
Then it was time for the Hurricanes’ “best line” of the night to make an impact.
Defenseman Jalen Chatfield broke up a play in the neutral zone, leading to a 2-on-1 rush. Logan Stankoven — on his 23rd birthday — passed to Taylor Hall, who returned the favor, allowing Stankoven to score his 11th of the season at 2:56.
Hall was then on the receiving end of a nice pass for the third goal. Stankoven recovered the puck in the Hurricanes’ zone and handed it off to Jackson Blake. Blake carried the puck up the right wing on a 2-on-1 rush, toe-dragged around sliding Tampa defenseman Darren Raddysh and dishing to Hall at the side of the net for an easy tap-in at 6:41 for his 13th goal and a 3-0 lead.
“We just did our jobs defensively, and then we were able to let our skill take over on the 2-on-1,” Hall said. “We practice those, and I feel like (Stankoven) and Blake or myself, we’ve been a little bit unlucky as a line. So if we can keep creating, I think we’re due for a good stretch.”
The Lightning, however, responded.
First, a Sean Walker turnover led to Scott Sabourin setting up Brandon Hagel in the left circle for his 28th goal of the season at 16:30 of the first to shave the lead to two.
Thirty-five seconds later, Nikita Kucherov made a quick stop to create space against Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin and picked the far-side top corner on Brandon Bussi (24 saves) to make it 3-2 with just under three minutes left in the opening frame.
The Lightning then twice erased one-goal leads in the second period.
First, Dominic James scored his sixth of the season, beating Bussi to the short side off the rush, to tie the game 3-3 at 1:58 of the middle frame.
The Hurricanes reestablished a one-goal lead when Seth Jarvis, just off the bench, got a pass in the slot from Andrei Svechnikov and scored his 26th of the season at 7:21 of the second.
But Point’s power play goal knotted the score again.
The Hurricanes, however, finally found their defensive footing in the third period. Carolina allowed six shots on goal in the final frame — just two at 5-on-5 — to limit Tampa Bay’s potent offense.
“They have some high-end offensive players there, and (it’s) not the easiest job to keep them off the scoring chances and whatnot,” Aho said. “But the third period, I thought it was pretty solid.”
Then Aho, fresh off leading Finland to bronze, got the Hurricanes the two points that tied his team with the Lightning atop the Eastern Conference standings with 80 points.
“Scoring is obviously a bonus, but we were here to look for the two points,” Aho said, “and we got it.”
Notes: Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Mike Reilly were healthy scratches for the Hurricanes. … Jake Guentzel had three assists. … Miller had five hits, one fewer than his season high. … Svechnikov had two assists.
