Staal scores in OT, Hurricanes beat Lightning in Game 3
Associated PressTAMPA, Fla. — Jordan Staal scored on a power play at 5:57 of overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night in Game 3 of the second-round series. Staal deflected Sebastien Aho’s shot with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov serving a penalty for holding the stick to cut Tampa Bay’s series lead to 2-1. It also was the first 5-on-5 goal scored by Carolina in the series and the first one Tampa Bay had allowed since the second period of Game 5 against the Florida Panthers. “That was a huge momentum shift for us in the game, being down 2-0 and getting two power play goals,’’ Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. Already without Nino Niederreiter, the Hurricanes also lost forward Warren Foegle to an upper-body injury in the second period after he collided with Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak.