Teravainen nets hat trick, Canes obliterate Lightning on home ice

The Carolina Hurricanes were an absolute wagon Sunday afternoon at home.

The Carolina Hurricanes absolutely DOMINATED the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday afternoon in PNC Arena, as a Teuvo Teravainen hat trick highlighted a commanding 6-0 win for the Canes.

Teravainen scored a goal in each period, two of those on the power play, for his second career hat trick, leading the way for a Hurricanes’ effort that was nothing short of masterful. Shayne Gostisbehere, in his first game as a Cane in PNC Arena, scored a power play goal and assisted both of Teravainen’s, while Andrei Svechnikov also joined the scoring with the game-opening goal.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi had a huge game, scoring a goal on the power play to go along with four assists. In total, the Hurricanes were 4 for 5 on the power play, with the loan scoreless power play the last 30 seconds of the second penalty after Kotkaniemi scored during a 5-on-3.

Frederik Andersen wasn’t tested much in Carolina’s net, but he stopped all 14 shots he faced in his first shutout of the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed six goals while making 32 saves.

The Canes completely controlled the opening period of the game, outshooting the Lightning 12-4 while registering five high-danger scoring chances to Tampa’s zero. More importantly, the Canes outscored the Lightning 2-0 in the opening 20 minutes.

Svechnikov got things started early on in the period, as a great individual effort from the Russian winger led to a 1-0 lead. Svechnikov controlled the puck with his skate, played it to himself and sniped a heavy wrister right over Vasilevskiy’s shoulder.

Teravainen netted his first on the power play later on in the period, as Gostisbehere made his impact felt once again on Carolina’s first man advantage of the game. Gostisbehere, QBing the unit, fed Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the boards, and one Finn found the other with an excellent cross-ice pass. Teravainen picked his spot — which just so happened to be the exact same one Svechnikov picked — to beat Vasilevskiy.

And as dominant as the first period was for the Hurricanes, the second period was an even better show of strength from the home team. The Canes again outscored Tampa 2-0 in the period, but the shocking number came in the shots on goal department. In the second 20 minutes, the Hurricanes registered 11 shots on goal. The Lightning had…zero.

Teravainen netted his second goal of the contest off a bad turnover from Tampa Bay, as Vasilevskiy dumped a puck out to Kotkaniemi. Kotkaniemi dotted a pass to Martin Necas, who touched it across to Teravainen for a fantastic tic-tac-toe goal to make it 3-0.

Then on the second power play of the night for Carolina, Gostisbehere did the scoring himself to net his second power play goal in as many games for Carolina to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Lightning found some life in the locker room during the second intermission and peppered some shots on Andersen, but the Canes’ netminder was more than ready for his first tests of the day and made a couple of key saves.

The Canes went back to the power play later in the third and Teravainen completed his hat trick, as the Gostisbehere-led unit struck once again. The Canes’ newest defenseman rifled a shot on net, and Teravainen crashed the rebound and blasted the puck home to put the bow on his second career hat trick.

The Canes got a 5-on-3 advantage late in the final period after some post-whistle festivities, and of course Carolina made it count. Kotkaniemi got himself into the goal column after four assists this time, tipping home a shot from Brent Burns to make it 6-0.