Last night, the New Jersey Devils (44-17-7) fell for the second-consecutive game to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team was able to pick up a point in this one, falling in a shootout. With the 4-3 shootout loss, the Devils fell to a record of 2-4 in the shootout, and 44-17-7 overall. They still sit second in the Metropolitan division and third in the league.
Summary
Period One
The Devils came out looking sluggish, which resulted in an early goal. Mikhail Sergachev threw a puck on the cage and it took a fortuitous bounce off the kneecap of Ross Colton. The Devils would get a few chances in the period, but none better than one Nico Hischier had right in front which was just chipped over the net. The game remained 1-0 after one.
Period Two
The second period was dominated by New Jersey, but ended similarly to the first. The Devils would tie the game with a Tomas Tatar finish off a great pass from Hischier. The Devils later would get a full two-minute five-on-three power play where they would ring the shot off the iron a couple of times and Andrei Vasilevskiy made some 10-bell saves to keep the game tied. Schmid had his fair-share of great saves as well as he robbed Nick Paul with a highlight-reel stop in the crease.
Immediately after, the two guys fresh out of the box beat the tired Devils down the ice and Steven Stamkos scored to put Tampa Bay up 2-1. That was the score after two.
Period Three
The Devils continued to control play in the third, but couldn’t beat Vasilevskiy. Eventually though, a puck squirted out to Timo Meier who punched it home to tie the game. The goal was his first in a handful of games and got the crowd pumped up again.
With about five minutes left, Jonas Siegenthaler was called for an interference penalty. On the ensuing power play, Steven Stamkos potted his second of the game to put his Bolts back up by one.
The Devils would get their fourth power play of the game shortly after and finally broke through after pulling the goalie. Timo Meier unloaded a laser beam off a feed from Dougie Hamilton to tie the game once again at three. The Devils got more prime chances following the goal but couldn’t finish and so the game head to overtime locked up at three.
Overtime and Shootout
The overtime had seven total shots with both goalies standing up to the task. The shootout, however, wasn’t the same story. New Jersey native Ross Colton ripped a perfect shot far side on a sliding Akira Schmid to put Tampa up by one. Yegor Sharangovich tied it shortly after, but after a Jesper Boqvist miss Tampa was in a position to win it. Alex Killorn pulled off nearly the same move as Colton to beat Schmid and win the game. Tampa took it 4-3.
Game Notes
Domination, But no Fruition
The Devils dominated a majority of play against the Lightning in the two-game series they just played against each other. On both nights combined the Devils had an expected goals percentage (xG%) of 63.90 which is spectacular, especially against a team like Tampa. The one problem arose in the Lightning’s net. Andrei Vasilevskiy was unbeatable in both games, stopping 3.25 goals above expected.
The Devils are playing the Florida Panthers on Saturday whose options in net at the moment are Sergei Bobrovsky and Mack Guzda. The former just let up five goals on 30 shots against the Montreal Canadiens and the latter has no NHL experience.
Either way, it should be a good chance to get their scoring legs back under them as the Devils haven’t scored more than three times in a game since their 5-4 overtime win against the Coyotes.
Timo’s Standout Game
Timo Meier has had some great moments with New Jersey already. This includes the shootout winner against the Capitals and scoring in his first period as a Devil. Tonight, though, he especially stood out as a true threat.
Apart from his two goals, Meier had a 54.17 corsi-for percentage (CF%) and 65.25 xG%. A truly great night for a forward who could potentially be a long-term member of this core.
Next Up
The Devils travel down to Sunrise, Florida to take on the Panthers Saturday night. The game is scheduled for a 6:00 PM ET puck drop.