The perils of a California road swing that featured three games in four nights took their toll on Tampa Bay last week, leaving the Lightning aiming to rekindle a suddenly stagnant offense.
After managing one goal in each of its losses at San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim, Tampa Bay returns home to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
The Lightning started the trip with a 2-1 loss to the Sharks last Thursday before falling to the Kings by the same score two nights later. The offensive struggles continued Sunday in a 4-1 loss to the Ducks that matched a season-long four-game skid for Tampa Bay.
“In the end, we scored three goals in three games,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who appeared as tired and dejected after Sunday’s game as his team did on the ice.
“It’s tough to win when you’re not scoring, and we’ve been used to scoring a lot this year. Lot of guys on this team who are used to putting it in couldn’t put them in on this trip.”
Anthony Cirelli (15 goals this season), Victor Hedman (five goals) and Jake Guentzel (21 goals) tallied for Tampa Bay in California. The Lightning entered the trip leading the NHL with 3.94 goals per game but have since dropped to second at 3.70.
“This is tough to swallow,” Cooper said.
Carolina has earned points in four of its past five games (3-1-1) dating back to a 5-2 win on Dec. 28 against New Jersey. As he did in that win, top-line center Sebastian Aho has played a pivotal role in the Hurricanes’ success this season.
Aho had a goal and an assist to help Carolina beat the Devils, and he buried the game-winner in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime victory over Pittsburgh. It was Aho’s 13th goal this season and put him at 600 career points, joining Ron Francis and Eric Staal as the only players in franchise history to do so.
“This last little while here he’s been very noticeable,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Aho, who was only on the ice for seven seconds in overtime. “Even when he’s not on the score sheet he’s been around it. That’s the guy we need and you generally see.”
Aho has seven points in his last five games (two goals, five assists), leaving him with 43 points this season. He trails only Martin Necas, who has 47 points, including a team-high 32 assists. Jack Roslovic leads Carolina with 17 goals.
Seth Jarvis is coming off a two-goal, one assist effort against Pittsburgh and has eight points in his last five contests.
Tuesday’s game is the make-up of an Oct. 12 contest that was postponed due to the effects of Hurricane Milton in southern Florida.
Tampa Bay notched a 4-1 win at Carolina in the teams’ season-opener on Oct. 11. Nikita Kucherov tallied a third-period hat trick to propel the Lightning to the win. Kucherov leads Tampa Bay with 55 points and had an assist on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
