Thanksgiving is less than a week away, but the New Jersey Devils are not in the most festive of moods after Thursday night’s disappointing outcome.
After squandering their best opening effort in a long time and eventually receiving no points to show for it, the Devils will try to boost their holiday spirits in Saturday’s matinee clash with the host Tampa Bay Lightning.
The first game with the Lightning was scheduled to finish a two-game trip in the Sunshine State, but Sunday’s overtime road loss to the New York Rangers — coupled with the Ottawa Senators’ COVID-19 postponement of Tuesday’s game in Newark — left the Devils playing three road games in six days.
Against Florida, New Jersey started strong with Dougie Hamilton’s fifth marker, but the game’s momentum shifted in the first period’s last 10 seconds.
After a dominating opening 19:53 of play, the Devils watched Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe skate in and rip one last shot — the Panthers’ 13th, after the Devils fired 22 — that clanked in off the far post to tie their second meeting at 1-1.
But it was all Florida after that as the Panthers pounced on New Jersey.
The home side tallied twice in the first 4:25 of the second frame, chased goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, dominated possession and outshot the Devils 28-24 the rest of the way.
That effort resulted in a 4-1 Florida win and a perfect 9-0-0 home mark — plus revenge for the Devils’ 7-3 victory against the Atlantic Division side on Nov. 9 in the Garden State.
“We had one of the fastest periods we’ve had all year,” said New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff of the game’s start. “We could have had three goals. If you don’t take advantage of those situations, we let a team hang around.”
Hamilton’s tally was his first instance this season scoring in consecutive games.
In Tampa by the bay, the Lightning are streaking — and they like it.
The Stanley Cup champions had to rally for a 4-3 shootout win during Thursday’s brief visit to Philadelphia to face the Flyers.
The Lightning fell behind 2-0 and apparently were headed to victory after captain Steven Stamkos’ score put them up 3-2 with 1:56 remaining in the first match between the clubs.
However, Claude Giroux knotted the contest at 3-3 in the final seconds of regulation with goalie Carter Hart off for an extra skater.
The Lightning eventually triumphed in the one-on-one session — stretching their point streak to nine games — with Stamkos and Brayden Point finding the net and backstop Andrei Vasilevskiy stymying attempts by Sean Couturier and Giroux.
Tampa Bay is 7-0-2 during its streak and has points in 10 of its past 11 contests (7-1-3).
“We had a couple big penalty kills in the third, and then traded goals late,” Stamkos said. “We’re on a pretty good streak right now, so we’re just trying to find ways to win, which is nice.”
Stamkos produced his team-leading seventh multi-point game with a goal and an assist.
Now owning a 2.25 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage, Vasilevskiy improved to 8-2-3.
On Friday, the Lightning announced that forward Alex Barre-Boulet has been sent down to AHL affiliate Syracuse. In nine games this season (seven with the Lightning, two with Seattle Kraken), the 24-year-old has a goal and three assists. He was claimed by Seattle on waivers and reclaimed by the Lightning after Nikita Kucherov was injured.
–Field Level Media
