What an impressive opening win for the Lightning. They went into a tough building and beat one of the best teams in the NHL.

Surely the stars of lightning shone. Nikita Kucherov managed a natural hat trick and ended up with four points. Brayden Point scored an important goal. Victor Hedman had three assists. The Lightning’s power play finished 2-6, providing the offense they needed to recover from a 1-0 deficit.

Equally important was that the Lightning delivered a very strong defensive performance. They have emphasized the need to limit opponents’ chances this year (particularly in five-on-five play), and they did that against the Hurricanes. Carolina wants to apply relentless pressure and tends to put a lot of pucks in the net. But the Hurricanes only managed 21 shots on goal in this game, only four of which were SOG in the decisive third period.

One of the keys to neutralizing Carolina’s offense is removing pucks from the defensive zone before the forechecking canes can take up time and space. That’s exactly what the Lightning did in the first 14 minutes of the first period. But when Brandon Hagel tried to hold onto the puck in the defensive zone instead of clearing it, he came under pressure and lost possession. Will Carrier set up Jordan Staal for a tap-in goal at 14:32.

The Hurricanes might have been able to extend their lead before the end of the period. The Lightning’s play became sloppy and they created a handful of rush chances. Luckily for her, Carolina wasn’t able to complete any of these looks.

The Lightning had an unsuccessful power play in the first period. This opportunity began with a faceoff loss in the offensive zone. Staal won the draw from point, the Hurricanes cleared the zone and the Lightning struggled to prepare for the remainder of the man advantage. When the Lightning got their second power play at 2:21 of the second period, they made an adjustment. Instead of Point, Nick Paul took over the faceoff. Paul won the faceoff and twelve seconds later Kucherov set up Point in the slot for the equalizer.

With the game tied, the Lightning gave up the ball for much of the second period. The Canes outscored the Lightning 11-4 and had a 25-9 advantage in shot attempts. But Andrei Vasilevskiy was very sharp and despite the territorial disadvantage, the Lightning did a good job of limiting risky chances.

The Lightning regrouped in the second intermission and pushed back in the third intermission. As they did early in the game, they were able to effectively clear pucks from the D-zone and reduce the time spent in their own game. At 11:00, Anthony Cirelli was hit on a breakaway, leading to another power play. Similar to Point’s goal in the second period, Paul won a faceoff to gain a man advantage. Hedman passed to Kucherov, who fired a one-timer in the right circle at 11:06.

The Lightning took the lead for the first time in the game and closed the game effectively. They won puck battles all over the ice, cleared pucks out of the defensive zone and worked pucks deep into the Carolina end. With just over two minutes left, the Canes brought in Fredrek Andersen for an additional attacker. Point won a faceoff in the D-zone against Staal and shortly after, Kucherov scored the first of two scoreless goals. He added his hat trick in the final seconds.

Now the Lightning are returning home to help with the cleanup after Hurricane Milton. The team will also prepare for its next game, scheduled for Tuesday against Vancouver.

Lightning Radio Three stars of the game:

1. Nikita Kucherov – Lightning. Natural hat trick and assist.
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy – Lightning. 20 saves.
3. Nick Paul – Assist. Faceoff wins lead to the first two goals.