Canes take back end of set with Tampa

In Tampa, the Carolina Hurricanes posted three goals in the middle frame on Tuesday night defeated the Lightning, 4-1.

The decision split the two-game set.

“That was a 60-minute effort all the way through,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were just a little more invested in this game, probably they weren’t. It was probably a reversal [from Monday].”

Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves to grab the win.

“All these games now, they mean a lot,” Nedeljkovic said. “We’re poised here to make a deep run, and games like this are only going to push us in the right direction. We’ll most likely have to go through these guys one way or another come playoff time, so any time you can kind of beat ’em a little bit and at least I think we evened up the series with them for the year (each team is 4-3-1).”

Nino Niederreiter and Jordan Staal scored two quick goals (25 seconds apart)  and Steven Lorentz added a strike in the second period for a 3-0 lead.

“It was a terrific pass,” Niederreiter said. “I had a lot of speed on that play, and he found me perfectly. I was glad to get the goal.”

Brayden Point cut the lead to 3-1 with the Lightning’s only goal of the game.

“We gave up too much,” Point said. “‘Vasy’ made some great saves. It’s [defensive] zone stuff. If you’re giving up four a night, it’s tough to win games. Lots to clean up in the D-zone.”

Jordan Martinook iced the game with an empty-net marker in the third period.

“I think there was a little more at stake here tonight,” Lorenz said. “I think our group did a really good job of bouncing back today, and I’m really proud of the way we responded. Once we got on the board, we kind of got energized … and we put a couple more by a really good goaltender in Vasilevskiy. So we’re very proud of the way we responded tonight, and we’re very happy taking 3 of 4 (points) from Tampa.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves in the loss.

“We didn’t do quite as good of a job skating,” the Lightning’s Blake Coleman said. “Obviously, there’s a hole in the offense right now (with forward Steven Stamkos out with a lower-body injury), and guys like myself and other guys need to start stepping up and carrying the load.”