Here are some observations from the game:
• Things seemed to be going well for the Devils at the start of the second period. Meier scored 51 seconds into the middle frame to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead. However, the Lightning responded with four goals, including a natural hat trick by Hagel, in a span of 8:18 minutes to build a 5-2 lead. That’s where this one got completely away from the Devils.
Hedman would add his second of the game late in the period for a five-goal period for Tampa. But the game was decided in that middle span of the period.
"The second period was just terrible," Meier said. "We made so many mistakes starting with the breakout. If you give them that much they're going to take it. They have a lot of skill on their team."
• The Devils showed some fight coming out of the gates for the third period. Bastian started things with a goal three minutes into the period. That was followed by Meier’s second of the night (this one on the power play) to make it a 6-4 game. Seconds later Dawson Mercer nearly scored on a semi-breakaway. But he was called for a controversial goaltender interference penalty and the Lightning scored (Guentzel) just three seconds later off the faceoff to make it 7-4.
• The Mercer penalty was a killer. He was cutting to the net and trying to stuff the puck into the goal on the backhand. Goalie Jonas Johansson stopped it with the pad. Meanwhile, Hedman was shoving Mercer into his goalie and mercer was called for the infraction. It’s a tough call, but that’s one the refs could have let go as incidental contact. Instead, it snuffed the momentum the Devils had generated.
• Hughes picked up his second goal of the season and in beautiful fashion. The play began on Ondrej Palat’s chip out of the defensive zone to Jesper Bratt in the neutral zone. Tampa defenseman Janis Moser let Hughes get behind him and Bratt made an immediate whack to Hughes to launch him on a breakaway. Hughes deked backhand, pulled to the forehand and had goalie Jonas Johansson easily beat as he was fooled and slid out of position.
• Devils defenseman Daniil Misyul made his NHL debut in the game, which included his “rookie lap” with no bucket at the start of warmups. Misyul, 24, started his career by throwing a heavy check into Brandon Hagel on his first shift. The 6-foot-3, 176-pound blueliner loves to play a physical game and he showed it from the start.
"It's so great and so cool. I want to play in this hockey league," Misyul said. "I was so happy when the game started. But I wanted to win today."
