By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sebastian Aho banged in a power-play goal through traffic midway through the third period to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Thursday night.
Aho’s shot from up top slipped past Jonas Johansson, with Carolina captain Jordan Staal rooted in front of Johansson at the top of the crease to make it 5-4 at the 7:17 mark of the third.
That decided a back and forth matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top two teams, with Carolina jumping to a 3-0 lead in the first seven minutes in its return from the Olympic break only to see Tampa Bay tie it early in the second period.
The game ended with the Hurricanes holding up against the Lightning going with an extra attacker for the last three minutes, with multiple Lightning players diving on the ice to stop Carolina’s repeated attempts at an empty-net clincher until the horn sounded.
Carolina pushed its point streak to 11 games, while Tampa Bay lost in regulation for only the second time since Dec. 18.
Nikolaj Ehlers, Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall and Seth Jarvis scored goals for Carolina, while Brandon Bussi had 24 saves as the Hurricanes won despite blowing a three-goal lead against the Lightning for the second time this season.
Brandon Hagel, Nikita Kucherov, Dominic James and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning. Johansson had 28 saves.
Both the Hurricanes and Lightning had been rolling going into the Olympic break. Tampa Bay’s tear went back longer, though, with the Lightning winning five straight and 19 of 21 before returning with Wednesday’s 4-2 win against Toronto.
The Lightning were again without head coach Jon Cooper. The team announced Wednesday he would miss the Toronto and Carolina games after his father’s death, with assistant Rob Zettler serving as acting head coach.
Up next
Lightning: Tampa Bay hosts Buffalo on Saturday.
Hurricanes: Carolina hosts Detroit on Saturday.