RALEIGH, N.C. — It's that time of the season when those NHL teams considered Stanley Cup contenders start really measuring themselves against the others.
The trade deadline has passed. Additions and subtractions have been made and lineups changed. It's time, as Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper put it, for teams to gear up in the stretch run for the "man's game" of the playoffs.
The Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning, to name two.
The Canes and Lightning went at it Tuesday at PNC Arena in a hard-fought game that Carolina win 3-2, ending a four-game winless streak.
The game ended with the two teams on the ice, going face to face in a tense staredown, before the Lightning finally left for the locker room and the Canes could hold their postgame Storm Surge.
A late open-ice hit on the Canes' Sebastian Aho left everyone in red in a foul mood. That continued after the game.
The Canes, without a power-play goal the past six games, had two in the second period Tuesday. Martin Necas scored from the top of the right circle — his second goal in 26 games — and Tony DeAngelo had a shot go off Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and past goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for a 2-0 lead.
The Canes continued to push the pace in the third, testing Vasilevskiy until Aho squeezed the puck past Vasilevskiy's left pad at the post for his 28th and a 3-1 lead at 8:07.
The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy for a sixth attacker and got a goal from Alex Killorn with 59.3 seconds left in regulation. Moment later, Aho was flattened.
Canes gioalie Frederik Andersen, in the end, bested Vasilevskiy with 27 saves in his 31st win of the season.
Before the game, Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour called the Lightning the "best team in hockey."
"Until someone proves otherwise, that's who they are," he said. "They just keep winning. They just keep chugging along. It's the same usual suspects and they've added some pieces now to almost round out their team. They almost look like they were last year."
What they were last year were the Stanley Cup champions. And in 2020, winning the Cup in the Edmonton bubble.
The Lightning came into PNC Arena with the "usual suspects" — Vasilevskiy, forwards Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov and defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh. Those guys.
New pieces were forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul, both obtained before Monday's trade deadline. And it was Paul who had the first Tampa Bay goal Tuesday, rushing down the slot in transtion to redirect a pass from Ross Colton past Andersen.
The Canes had a slow start, managing one shot in the first 12 minutes after 44 against the New York Rangers in their 2-0 loss Sunday. But after seven shots in the first period, Carolina had 20 in the second as Vasilevskiy allowed more rebounds than usual and the Canes had more chances.
Necas' goal, his 10th of the season, was the first for the Canes in more than five periods and had the crowd roaring. Trocheck let out a big whoop after his goal.
Sitting on the top level of PNC Arena was forward Max Domi, the Canes' new "piece" after the deadline. He should get his game in Thursday against Dallas.
