The New Jersey Devils lost 8-5 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at home. A particularly poor middle frame that featured six goals proved insurmountable despite a better third-period performance. With the loss, the Devils fell to 5-3-1 and went 0-1-1 on their home stand, while Tampa Bay improved to 4-2-0.
Game Recap
Period One
The game’s first ten minutes were choppy for both teams, with numerous offsides and icing calls that disrupted play.
At 11:02, Jack Hughes opened the scoring with a perfectly executed breakaway that fooled goaltender Jonas Johansson. Jesper Bratt added a primary assist, while Ondrej Palat notched his first point of the season.
Tampa Bay answered at 14:09 with a power play goal from Brayden Point, who batted the puck out of midair and past Jake Allen in net. Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov had the assists.
The Lightning had the edge in play for the rest of the period, but Allen and the Devils’ defense kept the game tied after one.
New Jersey was outshot 17-7 in the first frame.
Period Two
The Devils regained their lead just 00:51 into the second with a goal from the slot from Timo Meier. Hughes added an assist thanks to his spinning, backhanded pass that found Meier.
The Lightning tied the game again at 7:34 with a goal from a sharp angle from Victor Hedman. JJ Moser and Jake Guentzel tallied the assists.
Tampa grabbed their first lead minutes later, after a blueline shot from Brandon Hagel deflected past Allen off a Devils defenseman. Cirelli and Nick Perbix had the assists.
The Lightning extended their league at 13:01 with a goal from Hagel off an odd-man rush. Cirelli added another assist, and Conor Geekie tallied his first NHL point.
Hagel completed a natural hattrick at 15:53 with another goal off the rush from Emil Lilleberg and Cirelli. Head Coach Sheldon Keefe debated a goaltender interference challenge but ultimately decided against it.
Tampa Bay notched a sixth goal at 17:28 with another shot from the blue line that beat Allen, this time from Hedman. Hagel and Moser added additional points.
The Devils outshot the Lightning 15-13 in the second, a deceptive stat to describe their worst period of the season.
Period Three
New Jersey added an early goal at 2:56 to chip away at the Lightning lead. Nathan Bastian buried a shot from the net front after a strong fourth-line shift. Curtis Lazar added the lone assist.
The Devils made things interesting at 5:24 with a power play goal from Meier with assists from Tomas Tatar and Simon Nemec.
New Jersey suffered from a bad officiating call when Dawson Mercer was driven into Johansson by Hedman and was called for goaltender interference, much to the displeasure of Keefe, who was irate on the bench. Guentzel scored directly off the faceoff on the ensuing power play. Kucherov added the lone assist.
Johnathan Kovacevic was high-sticked on the same play without a call.
Tampa Bay notched a shorthanded goal at 9:19 after a clearing attempt took a weird bounce off the boards and hit the empty net, with Allen out to play the puck behind the net. Moser was credited with the goal with an assist for Nick Paul.
The Devils got another power play opportunity and converted at 12:45 with a snipe from Stefan Noesen. Hughes and Dougie Hamilton tallied the assists.
New Jersey was outshot 37-35 in the loss.
Takeaways
Home Ice Disadvantage
The New Jersey Devils had a losing record at home last season, and early on, it looks like home ice may become problematic for them again. After the loss to Tampa Bay, they are 2-2-1 at home and 3-1-0 on the road. One home victory was played in Prague, Czechia.
The records don’t show the drastic difference in play on home ice versus on the road. The scoring has been there, but New Jersey’s defense has allowed 18 goals in four games at the Prudential Center. Their only win at The Rock came in shutout fashion against the Utah Hockey Club. Contrarily, they have allowed just eight goals in their three road games, excluding Prague.
Keefe was already unhappy with the Devils’ home performance and mentioned it following the overtime loss to the Washington Capitals. He called the effort against Washington and Toronto “unacceptable,” and it is safe to assume the sentiment remained the same following Tuesday’s game.
Other Emerging Trends
The Devils have had trouble managing momentum swings so far this season. That was encapsulated in their second-period performance against Tampa Bay. New Jersey grabbed an early lead in the period thanks to Meier, but once the Lightning responded with their own goal, the floodgates were opened. The Devils allowed five unanswered goals in roughly ten minutes of game time.
Looking back to the Washington game, there are a lot of similarities. The Devils scored early in the first, but the Capitals answered with three goals to end the period. In the second, New Jersey fought back to tie the game but again surrendered two quick goals to give the lead right back. The Devils need to stabilize their play to manage the ebbs and flows that come with most games.
On a positive note, New Jersey scored first in six of their first nine games. Last season, the Devils allowed the first goal in 58 of 82 games, tying the 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche for the most in a single season in NHL history. That is undeniably not a recipe for success for a team that had, and has, its eyes on the playoffs. In the early going of this season, they seem to have corrected that issue.
Up Next
The Devils look to bounce back on Thursday night in Detroit, where they take on the Red Wings.
The Red Wings sit seventh in the Atlantic Division with a 3-3-0 record. Most recently, they defeated the New York Islanders 1-0 but only managed 11 shots on goal in the game.
New Jersey must put together a much stronger performance than in their previous two games and capitalize on a team off to a mediocre start.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. on MSGSN.
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