Victor Hedman speaks with reporters postgame After a roadtrip through California where the Lightning went 0-3, they returned home to host the Carolina Hurricanes. The game was a make-up from the postponed Oct. 12 game due to Hurricane Milton's landfall in the Tampa Bay area. As expected, it was tight from start to finish. Brandon Hagel opened the scoring for the Lightning in the first period with a wrist shot that went right past Hurricanes goaltender Pytor Kochetkov. Carolina responded in the second period to make it 1-1 when Andrei Svechnikov took a faceoff and flipped a slow backhanded pass past Lightning goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay stuck with it and a couple minutes later, Nick Paul scored off a rebound for a power play goal. “We definitely had guys in front tonight, and when the shots were taken, we had guys willing to take some cross-checks to get that second and third effort off,” Paul said of their effort to create more opportunities in front of the net. Carolina tied the game midway through the third period when Jordan Staal redirected a Brent Burns shot right into the back of the net. Just as it looked like the game was headed to overtime, Brayden Point secured the 3-2 win, scoring with 51.9 seconds left in regulation. It was a highlight-worthy goal off a pass from Nikita Kucherov. “Sometimes, when you don't think he sees you, he sees you,” Point said of Kucherov. “He's just an unbelievable talent. His vision, I think it is one of the best in the league if not the best in the league and you have to be ready because, like I said, even if you don't think he sees you, he sees you.” Point’s game-winning goal moved him within one of reaching 600 points with the Lightning organization, which would make him the third-fastest player behind Nikita Kucherov (557 GP) and Steven Stamkos (595 GP). "I think it was a close game the whole game,” said Point. “We knew it was going to be a close one in the third as well. They scored and I think we were able to keep playing the way we were for the first two periods. Obviously, a big game for us. We needed to try to snap the streak. I think that that was a big motivator for us too.” Darren Raddysh had two assists, making him the fastest defenseman in Lightning franchise history to reach 50 NHL points.
