After two periods of strong play, the Tampa Bay Lightning had built a solid 6-2 lead over the New Jersey Devils. They would need all six of those goals, plus a couple of insurance goals to hold onto the victory as the Devils clawed their way back in with a chaotic third period. In the end, the Lightning held on and snapped their two-game losing streak with an 8-5 victory. Brandon Hagel had a natural hat trick in the second period while Anthony Cirelli finished the game with four assists.
Jonas Johansson was back in net after relieving Andrei Vasilevskiy on Monday night. The Swedish netminder picked up his first win of the season with 28 saves on 33 shots. At the other end of the ice Jake Allen, coming off of a shutout in his last start, allowed 8 goals on 37 shots. Jack Hughes paced the offense with 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) while Timo Meier scored twice.
Nikita Kucherov was held to just one point (an assist) but Jake Guentzel had two points (1 goal, 1 assist) while JJ Moser ended up with three points (1 goal, 2 assists). Conor Geekie, promoted to the second line, recorded his first NHL point with an assist.
First Period:
Despite tonight’s game being tied at one goal a piece at the end of the first period like last night’s, the feeling was much better for the Bolts. Against Toronto, there was the sense that they barely held on to stay tied at one; against the Devils, they were firmly in control for much of it.
Johansson had to be sharp early as Jesper Bratt snapped a shot from the slot just 22 seconds into the game. After that, things settled into a choppy rhythm, with both teams set on dumping the puck in and muddling up the neutral zone. The Lightning handled the forecheck a lot better than they did against Toronto, using quick, simple passes to get it out of the zone.
Unfortunately, one of their few breakdowns came at an unfortunate time as Jack Hughes was on the ice. JJ Moser tried to push the puck into the zone deep along the boards, but old friend Ondrej Palat was there to cut it off and feed it to Jesper Bratt. Hughes split the defense and was available for the pass. Once he got it behind the defense, it was a simple backhand-to-forehand play to beat Johansson.
Jack Hughes (Jesper Bratt, Ondrej Palat) 1-0 Devils
From that point on, the Lightning settled into their game and resembled the team that we had seen over the first three games instead of the last two. Conor Geekie almost netted his first goal as Anthony Cirelli fed him on the near post, but the rookie couldn’t direct it in. As he bemoaned his missed opportunity, Timo Meier buried him into the boards. That led to a Lightning power play and, eventually, a goal.
Set up on the left side, Nikita Kucherov slid a cross-ice pass to Cirelli. The one-timer from Tony Four Points hit Allen and popped up in the air. Point was there to knock it down and bat it in.
Brayden Point (Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov ) Power Play, 1-1
After that, the Lightning started to roll quality shift after quality shift. Jake Guentzel had a look at a wide-open net, but Allen sprawled out to save it. There wasn’t anything flashy about their play, they kept it simple and put the puck on net. The result, an 8-4 edge in scoring chances at 5v5 and a pretty hefty margin in shot attempts.
Second Period:
Early on it looked like the second period was going to be a carbon copy of the one against Toronto. The Devils caught the Lightning in a line change and regained their lead way to early into the middle frame.
Timo Meier (Jack Hughes) 2-1 Devils
It’s a bit of a shame that puck went in as Cernak made a nice play to block the initial pass. Lilleberg was back in position only to see Meier’s shot tick off his shinpad and past Johansson.
The Devils kept the pressure up after the goal. After effectively slowing the New Jersey breakout with a good forecheck in the first period, the Lightning were getting caught behind the play, giving New Jersey an easy run through the neutral zone. The shots started piling up against Tampa Bay, and then things changed.
Big hits seem to beget big plays. With the Devils buzzing a bit, Erik Cernak leveled Jesper Bratt behind the Lightning net. It was a clean hit that sent the shifty forward to the bench for a spell.
Meanwhile, the hit seemed to ignite the Lightning offense. Over the net ten minutes they would record five goals. Victor Hedman’s two goals bookended a natural hat trick for Brandon Hagel.
Roll those sweet, sweet goals:
Victor Hedman (JJ Moser, Jake Guentzel) 2-2
Brandon Hagel (Anthony Cirelli, Nick Perbix) 3-2 Lightning
Brandon Hagel (Conor Geekie, Anthony Cirelli) 4-2 Lightning
Brandon Hagel (Emil Lilleberg, Anthony Cirelli) 5-2 Lightning
Victor Hedman (Brandon Hagel, JJ Moser) 6-2 Lightning
In all of that chaotic beauty was Conor Geekie’s first career NHL point. The big forward slipped a nifty pass to Hagel on Hag’s second goal. Geekie has looked really comfortable on that line. Along with the prolific goalscoring from Hedman and Hagel, Anthony Cirelli had four assists through two periods.
Following the five-goal flurry, the Devils mucked things up a bit and there were a few scrums following stoppages. They also managed to narrow the shot gap a bit as well, but Johansson kept the pucks out of the net.
Third Period:
The Devils decided that they wanted to make it a game as they scored early in the period when Nathan Bastian was left unmarked during a scrum in front of Johansson. He swept it home to cut the Lightning lead to three goals.
Nathan Bastian (Curtis Lazer) 6-3 Lightning
It wasn’t a good idea to give the Devils a power play shortly after the goal. They may have been down three, but they were building momentum and getting the crowd back into the game. That’s exactly what the Lightning did, and they paid for it as Timo Meier put one home in the latter stages of the power play.
Timo Meier (Tomas Tatar) Power Play, 6-4 Lightning
The crowd was really rocking at this point. However, those cheers turned to shouts of indignation after Dawson Mercer ran into Johansson in the crease. Mercer tried to plead his case on his way to the box, claiming that Hedman had helped steer him into the goalie, but referee Kelly Sutherland was not swayed.
Enter Jake Guentzel. As the crowd was still loudly complaining, Guentzel whacked home a puck that was sitting in front of him off of the face-off. Just two seconds into the power play, the Lightning lead was back to three.
Jake Guentzel (unassisted) Power Play, 7-4 Lightning
That goal gave the Lightning a little more breathing room, which they appreciated since they soon went down shorthanded again. The penalty kill was a lot more composed this time, and then they caught a break as Moser flipped a puck out of the zone that hit a stanchion and caromed into a vacated net.
JJ Moser (Nick Paul) Short-handed, 8-4 Lightning
Surely, the two teams would calm down at this point, right? Nope. How about another power-play goal for the Devils? Stefan Noesen put it home for his third of the season and the Lightning lead was back down to three.
Stefan Noesen (Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton) Power Play, 8-5 Lightning
Mercifully, that was the last goal of the game. Erik Haula did put a puck into the net, but he swatted it out of the air with his hand and it was waved off.
