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Oct 12, 2024, 12:37 AM ET
RALEIGH, N.C. — Victor Hedman and his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates spent the better part of a week in North Carolina keeping a watch on what was going on back home as Hurricane Milton roared ashore.
Now, with the storm past along with their regular-season opener, they can finally get back home and figure out what’s next.
The Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 in Friday night’s season opener for both teams to cap a long stay in the Raleigh area, their haven to get out of Florida ahead of Milton’s arrival. Tampa Bay’s premature departure meant spending days skating to get ready, spending time with their families in an extended stay in a new place and hoping for the best back home.
“I think most of the guys have gotten reports about their own properties,” Hedman said, adding later: “It’s good to have a few days to kind of get everything together.”
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This week’s storm left at least 10 people dead as of Friday night amid flooding and tornadoes, while the number of customers in Florida without power was roughly 1.9 million, according to poweroutage.us. The Lightning’s preseason game against Nashville on Monday was canceled, and the team instead headed to the North Carolina to get out of the area before Milton made landfall.
Jon Cooper, who has coached the Lightning to two Stanley Cups, wasn’t sure exactly how his team might respond Friday night with disrupted routines and worry.
“Outwardly as a coach, you want to be optimistic, but sometimes you’re a little nervous inside,” Cooper said. “So you weren’t exactly sure how things were going to go. But I do know the guys really wanted to play a hockey game.”
Other than Jordan Staal’s goal, Cooper liked the way Tampa Bay played in the first period. A strong third period that included three goals — the go-ahead one-timer and two empty-netters — from Nikita Kucherov pushed the Lightning to victory.
“I think everybody’s so locked in right now,” Kucherov said.
The game between…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41745648/lightning-locked-hurricane-milton-beat-carolina-cap-week
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Publish date : 2024-10-12 05:37:43
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