Backup goaltender Louis Domingue got his first start in the net and stopped 38 of the 40 shots he faced as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 in front a very happy Amalie Arena.
Tyler Johnson — who missed the season opener with an undisclosed upper-body injury — came alive in the game, and scored three goals (including one shorthanded tally and a game-icing empty-netter) to help the Bolts improve to 3-1-0 on the season. It was Johnson’s fourth regular season hat trick.
The Bolts’ penalty kill entered the game perfect on the season and had to work its magic two more times in the first period as Adam Erne and Brayden Point each earned time in the box. The Lightning did more than kill the penalty when Johnson tied the game with a shorthanded goal as the game’s second penalty expired. It was Johnson’s first goal of the season and found impressive Bolts rookie Mathieu Joseph who hustled down the board’s to feed Johnson for the score.
Johnny would strike again in the opening minutes of the second, but the Hurricanes’ Martin Necas earned his first career goal after finishing a 3-on-1 that followed a long Lightning shift in Carolina’s zone.
The Bolts came into Tuesday night’s game riding high from Saturday’s 8-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the offense continued to throw pucks at the net before the good guys went on their first power play of the game where Yanni Gourde scored the go-ahead goal (his second goal of the season) after taking a sweet pass from Ondrej Palat that was set up with some nice hustle from Johnson as he entered the zone to get sequence started.
Domingue — who took his postgame interview with his baby daughter in his lap — proceeded to use his pads, stick and glove to keep the Bolts in the game before Johnson sacrificed his body by blocking a third period shot and then getting an assist from Nikita Kucherov and Dan Girardi on his empty-netter.
The Bolts end their five-game season-opening homestand on Thursday, October 18 when the Detroit Red Wings visit Amalie Arena still looking for their first win of this young NHL season. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. EST.
This article appears in Oct 11-18, 2018.