The Tampa Bay Lightning needed a bounce back effort in the worst way after a letdown Friday night against the New Jersey Devils. Their opponent Saturday night, thee Carolina Hurricanes, have been a team on the rise of late, quietly working their way towards the top eight in the Eastern Conference. And the Hurricanes showed why they are a team on the rise, beating the Lightning 6-4.

The Lightning got the quick start they were looking for when Steve Downie found a wide open Steven Stamkos to give the Lightning an early lead. The goal at the 1:44 mark was Stamkos' 33rd goal of the year, and also put him back in the NHL goalscoring lead. The Hurricanes would answer back less than three minutes later when Joe Corvo found Chad LaRose coming out of the penalty box. LaRose skated in on the breakaway and beat Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson to tie the game at one. For LaRose, it was his 8th goal of the season. It was also LaRose's 11th goal all time against the Lightning.

Carolina would take the lead at 17:23 of the first when rookie Jeff Skinner was able to bat home a rebound into a wide open net. The goal was Skinners 16th of the year. The Lightning would pull even right before the end of the period though when Marty St Louis and Vincent Lecavalier came in on a 2 on 1. St. Louis was able to center the puck to Lecavalier, who beat Cam Ward through the five hole to tie the game. For Lecavalier, it was his 8th goal of the year at the 19:37 mark.

Into the second, there was no slow down in goal scoring as both teams continued to put up goals. Simon Gagne would give the Lightning the lead right from the get go with his 5th goal of the year. The goal at the 1:02 mark gave the Lightning a short lived 3-2 lead. The Hurricanes took over the scoring at that point for the rest of the period, with a large assist to the powerplay. They would tie the score at 3 when Jamie McBain connected on the power-play. For McBain, the goal at the 4:19 mark was his 2nd of the year. Carolina would take the lead when former Bolt Jussi Jokinen scored his ninth goal of the year. The power-play goal at 6:31 gave Carolina a 4-3 lead. If that was not enough, with the Lightning on the power-play, Eric Staal connected on his 22nd of the year shorthanded to give the Hurricanes a 5-3 lead.

On to the third, the Lightning would make the finish interesting when Simon Gagne created a turnover at his own blue line, and took off on a breakaway. Gagne beat Cam Ward for his second goal of the game and 6th goal on the year, pulling the Lightning within one at 5-4. That is as close as they would get though as Jussi Jokinen would add an empty netter to make the score 6-4.

The Lightning will try to avoid their third straight loss when they take on Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night at the St. Pete Times forum. Game time is at 7:30 pm.

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This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.