Game Fifteen: New Jersey Devils (12-6-2) at Tampa Bay Lightning (8-6-1)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Amalie Arena
TV/Stream/Radio: FDSNSUN, MSG, ESPN+, 102.5 FM
Odds: Lightning -108
On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Lightning returned to action with a well-played, 4-1 win over the best team in the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets. Their reward for the victory – a game against the second-best team in the NHL, the New Jersey Devils. Cool. As impressive as the Jets conquest was, they risk losing that momentum unless they follow up with another start-to-finish effort.
The Devils are coming off a pretty decent win of their own, downing the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, 6-2. Jesper Bratt led the way with a hat trick while Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier had three helpers each. For the Devils, it was their fifth win in six games, a streak that has vaulted them to the top of the Eastern Conference with 26 points.
Over their last ten games their success has come from all corners as they are getting scoring from Hughes (6 goals, 7 assists), Bratt (7 goals, 8 assists), Hischier (3 goals, 7 assists), Dawson Mercer (3 goals, 5 assists), and Stefan Noesen (6 goals, 1 assist). There will be no let-up for the Lightning penalty killers as they will face a power play that is clicking along at 30.5% on the season.
So, the Lightning’s work is cut out for them for the second night in a row. Against the Jets, they came out fast, dominating the first ten minutes of play, which led to them scoring the first goal. Play evened out a bit as the night went on, but for once, they were the ones who were able to take advantage of a lapse of concentration and score a couple of quick goals as Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli scored within a minute of each other in the second period.
The penalty kill was huge for them as they held off the top power play in the league for four full opportunities (and a fifth one at the end of the game that lasted a few seconds). Throw in Andrei Vasilevskiy’s strong performance and the Lightning showed us the type of team that they could be when they are firing on all cylinders.
Brayden Point’s status is still a question mark this season, and should he not be ready to go, Coach Cooper could elect to stay young for another night. On Thursday, he went with the Kid Line, inserting Gage Goncalves into the rotation over Cam Atkinson. It wasn’t the prettiest night for the trio of Goncalves, Conor Geekie, and Mitchell Chaffee as they were upside down in shot attempts (30%), scoring chances (33.33%), and expected goals (5.98 xGF%). Despite that, they didn’t allow any goals or high-danger chances, so it wasn’t all bad.
At some point, no matter what the line-up looks like, the Lightning will need to start getting some production from their bottom-six. New Jersey has been able to get scoring from three of their four lines over their last ten games, so that depth will challenge the Bolts.
The Lightning can’t rest on their impressive victory from earlier in the week, they have to keep their foot on the gas and keep racking up the points. After tonight, there are two winnable road games against Pittsburgh and Columbus, so they have the chance to get on a little run if they can beat the Devils tonight. It won’t be easy, but if they keep their game simple and similar to what they did against Winnipeg, they have a solid chance at picking up the victory.
Potential Lines
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Jake Guentzel – Nick Paul – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Cam Atkinson (?)
Gage Goncalves – Conor Geekie – Mitchell Chaffee
Mikey Eyssimont – Luke Glendening – Zemgus Girgensons
Defense
Victor Hedman – JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg – Nick Perbix
Goaltender
Andrei Vasilevskiy
New Jersey Devils
Forwards
Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Stefan Noesen
Jesper Bratt – Jack Hughes – Ondrj Palat
Paul Cotter – Erik Haula – Dawson Mercer
Kurtis MacDermid – Justin Dowling – Tomas Tatar
Defense
Brenden Dillon – Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce
Jonas Siegenthaler – Johnathan Kovacevic
Goaltender
Jacob Markstom
