{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Carolina 4, Tampa Bay 0
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 20, 2021
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Referees: Jake Brenk, Francois St. Laurent
Linesmen: Brandon Gawryletz, Libor Suchanek
Attendance: N/A

Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic authored his first career shutout, Cedric Paquette scored against his former club and the Carolina Hurricanes won 4-0 over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.

In his 10th NHL appearance, Nedeljkovic started his second game this week and stopped all 24 shots to move to 2-1-1 this season.

Traded to Ottawa by Tampa Bay on Dec. 27 after skating in 377 games for the Lightning and winning the Stanley Cup last season, Paquette scored his first goal in four games with Carolina for a comfortable 3-0 edge early in the third period.

Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov (empty-netter) each had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck scored a goal to record his 300th career NHL point.

Playing for the first time in five days, the Lightning got 24 saves on 27 shots by Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Alex Killorn played in his 600th NHL game.

But the club lost for the third time in four contests (1-3-0) and dropped consecutive regulation games for the first time this season.

Tampa Bay also fell to 5-1-4 in its last 10 games in Raleigh. Its previous regulation loss at Carolina was on Jan. 27, 2015, in a 4-2 defeat.

The second meeting between the teams was arranged by the NHL on Friday morning, sending Tampa Bay north to face the Hurricanes after the Lightning's contest scheduled for Saturday in Dallas was postponed due to the severe weather in Texas.

After a scoreless first period, Carolina turned up the tempo and scored at 2:19 of the second on a fortunate bounce off Killorn, stationed near Vasilevskiy's crease. Nino Niederreiter's flip from the edge of the right circle struck Killorn and caromed to the far post, where Trocheck jabbed a piece of the puck to help it in for his ninth goal, tying him with Niederreiter for the Carolina lead.

The second-line center stretched his point streak to seven games (four goals, five assists) with the goal -- the longest by a Hurricanes player this season.

The Carolina lead grew to 2-0 after an offensive-zone steal by Svechnikov -- who slid up to the top line in place of Teuvo Teravainen (upper body) -- ended with him feeding a pass to Aho, who drove through the right circle and scored for the sixth time at 15:30.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Tampa Bay   Carolina
N/A Points Sebastian Aho 2
N/A Goals Sebastian Aho 1
N/A Assists Sebastian Aho 1
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Andrei Vasilevskiy .889 Save Percentage Alex Nedeljkovic 1.000
Andrei Vasilevskiy 24 Saves Alex Nedeljkovic 24
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Tampa Bay 24 0 0-1 2-2 4 28
Carolina 28 4 0-2 1-1 2 25
Upcoming Games
  • Carolina will play their next game at home against Tampa Bay. The Hurricanes have a W/L % of .636 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Tampa Bay will play their next game on the road against Dallas. The Lightning have a W/L % of .700 after a win and .500 after a loss.