For the third time in six nights, the Devils and Lightning squared off in a game, this time Tampa as the home team. In the third and final game of the season series, the Devils finally broke through with their first win.
The Lightning and Devils split the season series 1-1-1.
After a disappointing loss last night to the Panthers, captain Nico Hischier, who hit 30 goals on the season tonight, was happy with the way his team responded.
"One hundred percent, we played way better," the captain noted, "It would have been a tough one to swallow if we gave up the lead again. We just all around played out game, I feel like."
Led by Hischier and Jesper Bratt in the second, the Devils turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead in a span of 5:32. Nine seconds after Tampa's Alex Killorn gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead, Bratt struck back with the first of his two goals on the evening.
Less than three minutes later, at 9:22 of the second, Bratt beat Andrei Vasilevskiy a second time, before Hischier scored the game winner 2:40 after Bratt's tying goal, to take the decisive 3-2 lead.
With 11 seconds left in the game, Bratt hit the net for the hat trick goal and the 5-2 final score and his 30th goal of the season, both players who broke into the league together hitting the milestone mark on the same night.
"Why not, perfectly fitting," Hischier said through a grin, "He's the guy I came in with in the league, and obviously know him well. So I'm really happy for him and he's probably happy for me as well. Perfect fitting."
Bratt echoed Hischier's comments post-game as well: "It was special, he's a guy that I played my first couple of games with, and been growing up in this team and playing with the whole time. So for us, us both to hit it on this kind of night, in a special win for us as a group was obviously awesome. I'm happy for both of us."
Nolan Foote, in his first game since being called up for a second time this season, doubled the Devils lead at 4-2 at 9:51 of the third.
Foote was in the Devils lineup in the absence of Curtis Lazar who left last night's game injured. Lindy Ruff said post-game he wasn't sure if the team would go 11 forwards and seven defensemen until after warmups when he decided to put Foote in the lineup.
"I thought his wall play, I thought he was strong in his own end," Ruff shared, "I thought in the offensive zone he did a great job, sealing walls and just a lot of real good play."
Bratt Scores Hat Trick, Hischier Hits 30 in Win | GAME STORY
The Devils used a three-goal second period to defeat the Lightning for the first time this season
