Martinook breaks tie in 3rd, Hurricanes edge Lightning

TAMPA -- Jordan Martinook scored the go-ahead goal at 9:18 of the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes recovered for a 4-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Saturday.

Martinook put Carolina up 3-2 when he threw the puck on net from a sharp angle in the left face-off circle and it deflected in off Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman.

Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (42-18-6), who have won four of their past six. Frederik Andersen made 17 saves

"I thought everybody really contributed. And that's how we win, right?," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It's not, you know, just special plays here and there. We need every line, really. And that's what we've got to do to get it done."

Yanni Gourde and Charle-Edouard D'Astous scored for the Lightning (40-21-4), who have lost seven of their past nine games. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves.

"We've got to be more effective and get back to moving the puck [quickly]," Gourde said. "When we do that I think we're a good team. We've done more of it the last two games, but we've got to keep bearing down and trusting the process."

Svechnikov put the Hurricanes up 1-0 just 36 seconds into the first period during a delayed penalty. He snapped Aho's centering pass from the right corner to the short side after Hedman impeded him on a breakaway.

"The goal to start the game. It just sets the tone," Brind'Amour said. "That was a tough game out there."

Aho made it 2-0 at 17:28. K'Andre Miller sprung Aho on a breakaway with a stretch pass from the defensive zone, but he was stopped by Vasilevskiy. Svechnikov gathered the rebound and got the puck back to Aho, who scored into an open net from the right of the crease.

The Lightning scored two goals in a 1:21 span to tie the game.

Gourde cut the deficit to 2-1 at 14:10 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle under the right arm of Andersen.

"I just thought we had a terrible start, you can't give that up," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We turned it into a 40-minute game and you're down 2-0 with two periods [left]. I thought we did a great job coming back and gave ourselves every chance to win that game."

D'Astous evened it 2-2, finishing a 2-on-1 rush when he tapped in Brayden Point's centering pass off Andersen's blocker as he crashed the net.

"Obviously they had a little push, but I thought after that we recovered really well," Andersen said. "And the third was a great example of that. Just got back to our game and [scored on] a little bit of a seeing-eye shot.

Logan Stankoven secured the 4-2 final with an empty-net goal at 18:29 of the third period after Andersen made a point-blank save on Nikita Kucherov's shot from in tight.  

"Obviously started out great, and you get the goal to start the game," Brind'Amour said. "That gets you just, you know, feeling good about things. And I thought we were really good. We had a couple mistakes that they ended up capitalizing. But really, throughout the game, I thought we were solid. A couple big saves, a couple special plays from guys. Overall great effort."

NOTES: Aho has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past nine games. ... Svechnikov has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past six games. ... Lightning forward Nick Paul and defenseman Erik Cernak each returned to the lineup. Paul, who missed 11 games with a lower-body injury, was minus-1 and had one shot on goal in 9:57 of ice time. Cernak missed two games with an upper-body injury and was minus-2 with one shot on goal in 16:01 of ice time. ... Gage Goncalves extended his point streak to three games (three goals, one assist).