Lightning 2, Hurricanes 1: Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal of the game on a fortunate bounce with 30.3 seconds remaining in the third period as Tampa Bay edged visiting Carolina.

Kucherov took a feed from Alex Killorn and whipped a pass toward Tyler Johnson at the right post, but the puck deflected off Carolina defenseman Ron Hainsey’s skate directly into the net. Evgeni Nabokov turned aside 29 shots and notched an assist as the Lightning defeated the Hurricanes for the eighth time in nine meetings.

Blue-liner Justin Faulk scored his fifth goal of the season for Carolina, which dropped its fourth consecutive contest. Cam Ward made 25 saves as the Hurricanes recorded just one tally for the fourth straight game.

Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman dumped the puck into the right corner during a power play and it caromed toward a vacated crease before Kucherov scooped it home 6:35 into the third for a 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes tied it with 7:57 left as Faulk’s shot from the right point got by a screened Nabokov.

Nabokov had to be sharp as Tampa Bay killed off two power plays in a scoreless first period, while Ward made a nifty glove save on Valtteri Filppula late in the session. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos hit the right post twice in the second and Ward made a dazzling pad stop on Filppula’s rebound chance 6:45 into the middle period.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay LW Ondrej Palat sat out his first game of the season and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. …The Lightning announced LW Jonathan Drouin would not be loaned to Team Canada for the World Junior Championships later this month. … Hainsey played his 700th NHL contest – and 31st against the Lightning. …. The Hurricanes placed RW Alexander Semin on injured reserve with a lower-body injury while D Brett Bellemore was scratched after being activated from injured reserve.