<p>RALEIGH, N.C. — Martin Necas scored his second goal of the game to break a tie with 3:53 remaining and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Saturday night in a matchup between the top two teams in the Central Division.</p>
<p>Necas, who also had two assists, put the Hurricanes ahead on a power play, with Dougie Hamilton getting an assist to extend his franchise-record point streak for a defenseman to 14 games. That’s the longest active streak in the NHL for any player.</p>
<p>Goals by Cedric Paquette and Sebastian Aho in a 62-second span early in the second knotted the score. Necas put Carolina ahead with his first goal later in the period.</p>
<p>Blake Coleman and Pat Maroon scored in the first period and Mathieu Joseph tied the game 22 seconds into the third for Tampa Bay.</p>
<p>Hurricanes goalie James Reimer made 19 saves. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 36 shots for the first-place Lightning.</p>
<p>The defending Stanley Cup champions, who have a one-point lead on the Hurricanes, have lost consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 15 and 20. Carolina also delivered the second defeat in that set.</p>
<p>Coleman converted for the first goal after Reimer failed to cover the puck.</p>
<p>Since joining the Hurricanes in a mid-February trade, Paquette has scored two of his three goals against Tampa Bay. He played on last year’s title team for the Lightning.</p>
<p>COME AND SEE </p>
<p>This marked Carolina’s first home game since North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced indoor sports venues could hold up to 50% capacity. That would have meant more than 9,000 spectators at PNC Arena.</p>
<p>However, the team limited the number of additional tickets made available in order to adhere to other protocols. Attendance was listed at 4,433.</p>
<p>The team announced that every ticket made available was sold.</p>
<p>Once fans were permitted earlier this month, attendance had been limited to no more than 15% for the past six home games.</p>
<p>The Hurricanes are 11-1-3 at home.</p>
<p>UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN</p>
<p>It was the sixth meeting of the season between the teams, and the Lightning’s final visit to Raleigh.</p>
<p>The clubs originally were supposed to play a rematch Sunday, but that game was moved to Feb. 20 in a schedule shuffle involving several teams in the division. </p>
<p>The last two Carolina-Tampa Bay matchups of the season are April 19 and 20 in Tampa, Florida.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Lightning: Begin a four-game homestand Tuesday night against Columbus.</p>
<p>Hurricanes: Play on Tuesday and Thursday at Chicago.</p>
<hr />
<p>More AP NHL: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/NHL">https://apnews.com/hub/NHL</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Sports">https://twitter.com/AP_Sports</a></p>
