Despite Late Surge, Devils Fall Short to Lightning | GAME STORY

TAMPA, FL - If it wasn't for the effort in the third period by the New Jersey Devils, it would have been complete domination by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. 

The Lightning put together an opening 40 minutes where they controlled nearly every aspect of the game. From their 2-0 lead, to their 28 shots on goal, the opening two periods were all Tampa Bay. The Devils had zero goals and just 10 shots after 40 minutes. 

In the third, the Devils found a bit of life, bringing the score closer than perhaps the possession time would dictate. The Devils scored three third-period goals in the 6-3 loss to the Lightning.

“Disappointing, I’m embarrassed a bit, to be honest,” Hischier said, “We got outworked, outplayed in such a big game. The way we performed is embarrassing.”

Ondrej Palat gave the Devils a short-lived shot in the arm, scoring against his former team, capitalizing off an Andrei Vasilevskiy rebound to make the score 2-1 at 2:49 of the third period. It took the Lightning exactly one minute, at 3:49 of the third period, to rebuild their two-goal lead on a goal by Steven Stamkos. 

Jesper Bratt replied for New Jersey, bringing his team within one at 7:19 of the third, Tyler Toffoli goal at 17:22 brought the Devils within one for a second time, before the Lightning would strike with two empty-net goals. 

All the offensive effort proved too little, too late against the Lightning. 

"The effort wasn't good enough," coach Lindy Ruff said sternly post-game, "It's as simple as that. They won more battles."

Vitek Vanecek was under siege all night, the Lightning compiling 39 shots on goal. Vanecek time and again made several show-stopping saves, including a shorthanded save on a Lightning shorthanded 2-on-1 opportunity, turning away Luke Glendening, who scored shorthanded the last time these two teams met. 

"In the second period he gave us some big saves when we needed them," Ruff said, "he gave us some in the third to keep us alive. We had to throw a lot of risk in our game in the third period. We knew we were going to give up some opportunities and he made the saves that gave us the chance to go the other way."

The Lightning put the nail in the Devils coffin when Brayden Point picked off an errant pass by Kevin Bahl with at 13:52 of the third. Vanecek, out of his net, expecting Bahl to send the puck up and off the boards, had all but zero chance to make the save. The Devils netminder faced 42 shots compared to his Lightning counterpart who faced just 24. 

The Devils attempt at a comeback fell short on Saturday night, New Jersey heading into their week-long break on a disappointing loss in Tampa.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Jesper Bratt has hit 50 points this season with his 19th goal of the season. 

• Tyler Toffoli's goal was the 500th point of his NHL career. 

• It took New Jersey 10:20 to register their first shot against the Lightning. Chris Tierney had New Jersey’s opening shot of the six against Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first period.

The trend continued through the game, the Devils experiencing full domination by the Lightning who had a 28-10 shot advantage after 40 minutes. They also had the numbers where it counts most: the 2-0 lead.

• John Marino was tasked with attempting to keep Tampa's Nikita Kucherov at bay. Kucherov, who is second in the league in points (83) was riding a trend of three-point nights in the Lightning's previous three home games and five times in his past nine overall games.

Marino and Kucherov matched up nearly minute-to-minute by the game's end. Kucherov was held to just a single point, an assist, despite logging five shots on Vanecek. 

• Two different Devils hit milestones tonight, John Marino played his 300th NHL game while Justin Dowling played his 100th.

Dowling, 33, has been a journeyman through his 13-year professional career and started his NHL career also under head coach Lindy Ruff, who was then at the helm of the Dallas Stars bench.

"It tells you he’s a guy that loves playing the game,” Ruff said before the start of the game, “He’s still playing, still playing at a real effective level. I had him for a little bit when I was coaching in Dallas, so I was familiar with him. And (in Dallas) he got a couple of looks and a couple of opportunities, I think everywhere he’s been he gets that couple of looks and tries to make the most of it.”

Dowling was bumped to center the second line tonight with Tyler Toffoli and Dawson Mercer on his wings to start the game. Dowling took the spot held by Erik Haula in the team's previous game, with Haula missing, having returned to New Jersey for the birth of his second child.