Devils Host Lightning to Wrap Back-to-Back | PREVIEW

New Jersey hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning on the second game of NextGen Weekend presented by RWJBarnabas Health. The first 9,000 fans in attendance will receive a Jesper Bratt bobblehead.

You can watch on MSGSN (local) or on TNT/MAX (out-of-region) or listen on the Devils Hockey Network.

Read below for your game preview and pre-game story below.

PRE-GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - The Devils and Lightning match up for a big four-point game this afternoon. New Jersey trail Tampa Bay in the standings by just 5 points for the second and final Wild Card spot in the East.

"We can't over-emphasize, we all understand that," head coach Lindy Ruff said. 

It's different territory than where the team was last season at this point. But there is still a learning curve value to being in the fight the way the team is right now. 

“The value is you know that you’re coming from a place that you’re not comfortable with,” Ruff said, “because last year, if you dropped a game like this you knew you were 20 games over 500, now it’s being comfortable being uncomfortable. We’re in an uncomfortable place, we know to a man it’s going to take a really good effort down the stretch.”

Unfortunately right now the team will have to do it without the services of Nathan Bastian, who remains out after sustaining an injury against the Rangers. The Devils head coach indicated that Bastian will be out for a while. When it comes to goaltending, this afternoon the Devils have the services of both Nico Daws and Akira Schmid available, while Vitek Vanecek continues to recover from his lower body injury. The club will leave after Sunday's game to head to the West Coast to begin a 3-game, 8-day road trip. Vanecek will not travel to begin with, but Ruff did indicate there is a possibility he joins the team on the road at some point.

PREVIEW

DEVILS (29-24-4) vs. LIGHTNING (31-23-5)

Head-to-Head

Sunday's game is the third and final contest between the Devils and Lightning this season with the first two games taking place in Tampa. On Jan 11, the Devils fell 4-3 in overtime and on Jan. 27, New Jersey lost 6-3. Jesper Bratt has two goals against the Lightning this season while Dawson Mercer, Nathan Bastian, Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Toffoli each have one.

Devils Team Scope:

After dropping two straight, the Devils bounced back and picked up a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens. In the win, the Devils big players stepped up as Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt scored. Hischier's goal was a power play tally, the team's first goal on the man-advantage since Feb. 15 against the Los Angeles Kings. The Devils have focused on new defensive scheme modifications and capitalizing on their opportunities in recent contests.

Tyler Toffoli leads the Devils with 24 goals and is on a five-game points streak where he's scored two goals and had four assists over that span. Jesper Bratt's 38 assists and 59 points are first on the team, and he snapped an eight-game goal drought with the game winner against the Canadiens. Timo Meier is coming off a strong performance against Montreal with a goal and an assist, where he received First Star honors post-game.

The Devils have turned to Nico Daws for seven-straight games and he stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced against the Canadiens. Through the 15 games he's played, Daws has a 7-8-0 record where he's averaging 3.30 goals against and has a .895 save percentage.

New Jersey is five points out of the second wild card spot with two less games played than the Tampa Bay Lightning who currently hold the spot. Sunday's game could be a four-point swing for the Devils with a regulation win over the Lightning. The Devils are five points back from the Philadelphia Flyers who hold the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. Sunday is the Devils final home game before heading out to California for three-straight games.

Lightning Team Scope:

The Lightning snapped a three-game losing skid on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders. Nicholas Paul, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Luke Glendening all had goals in the win. Tampa Bay has won five of their last ten games but need to keep up pace in the playoff race with wins. Sunday is the second half of a back-to-back for both teams as well, after each played at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Tampa Bay has the top-ranked power play in the NHL, scoring on 29.8% of its opportunities on the man advantage. The Lightning also have a strong penalty kill that is 13th in the league with a 80.5% kill rate. Although Tampa Bay scores over 3 goals a contest, they also allow the 25th most goals in the league, averaging 3.39 goals against per game.

Nikita Kucherov's 27 goals, 61 assists, and 98 points lead the Lightning. Kucherov's 98 points also lead the NHL as he has five more than Nathan MacKinnon who is in second place. Brayden Point has 29 goals and 60 points which are both second-most while Victor Hedman's 48 assists are second on the team. Steven Stamkos and Kucherov are tied for the most power play goals on the Lightning with 12 a piece while Point's nine are third. Andrei Vasilevskiy has played the majority of the Lightning's games this season and he has a 20-14-0 record. He's averaging 2.95 goals against with a .897 save percentage.

The Lightning are wrapping up their two game road trip in Philadelphia with a Tuesday night tilt against the Flyers.

By the Numbers:

18: The Devils, Dallas Stars, and New York Rangers are tied for the most comeback wins in the NHL

75: How many goals the Devils have in the third period, which is tied for the third-most in the NHL. The Lightning are right behind the Devils with 74.

Injuries:

Devils

Vitek Vanecek (lower-body, IR)
Nathan Bastian (lower-body, IR)
Dougie Hamilton (torn pectoral, LTIR)

Lightning

Haydn Fleury (undisclosed)
Tanner Jeannot (undisclosed, IR)
Mikhail Sergachev (leg, IR)
Logan Brown (undisclosed, IR)