Victor Hedman and Brayden Point scored consecutive goals early in the second period Sunday afternoon for the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, who completed a successful weekend by beating the New Jersey Devils 4-1 in Newark, N.J.
Brandon Hagel scored just before the midway point of the third and Nikita Kucherov added an empty-netter for the Lightning, who swept a back-to-back road set against the Devils and New York Islanders, each of whom are chasing Tampa Bay in the wild-card race.
Kucherov had four points and leads the NHL with 102.
Goaltender Jonas Johansson made 18 saves for the Lightning, who temporarily moved into the first wild card spot with 69 points before sliding back to the No. 2 spot after the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks later in the day.
The Lightning moved seven points ahead of the Devils, eight points ahead of the idle Washington Capitals and nine points ahead of the idle Islanders, whom Tampa Bay beat 4-2 on Saturday.
Tyler Toffoli scored in the second period for the Devils, who were trying to win consecutive games for just the third time since Jan. 1. Goalie Akira Schmid recorded 23 saves.
After a scoreless first period, the Lightning took control with two goals in the first five minutes of the second.
Kucherov weaved into the slot and was surrounded by three Devils players before he tucked a pass between the legs of New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler to Hedman. Schmid was stuck leaning to his right when Hedman tucked a shot into the gaping left corner of the net at the 1:27 mark.
Point doubled the lead just 2:48 later, when he capped an end-to-end rush by skating past the goal line before sending an angled shot off Schmid’s skate and into the net.
Steven Stamkos was whistled for tripping Siegenthaler at the 5:11 mark of the second, setting up the power play that yielded Toffoli’s goal at 6:01.
But the Lightning added their first insurance goal when Hagel collected the carom of a Point pass off the skate of John Marino and backhanded a shot past a sliding Schmid with 10:22 left in the third. Kucherov scored his empty-netter with 1:35 remaining.
–Field Level Media
