Lack, Devils top Lightning for third straight win

TAMPA -- Eddie Lack made an NHL career-high 48 saves to help the New Jersey Devils to a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Lack, making his second start with the Devils, got his first win since Nov. 13 when he made 13 saves in the Calgary Flames' 7-4 win against the St. Louis Blues. It was his third game for New Jersey since being traded Dec. 30.
"Pretty sure that's the most shots] I've faced in my NHL career to be honest," Lack said. "I felt pretty comfortable in there at times. Honestly I want two of those goals back. I didn't make it easy on myself but the most important thing is to come out with the two points this time of year."
***[WATCH: [All Devils vs. Lightning highlights]*
Ben Lovejoy, Nico Hischier, Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood scored for the Devils (30-20-8), who have won three games in a row and moved into a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Chris Kunitz, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning (39-17-3), who have lost three of their past four (1-3-0). They have a three-point lead over the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for Tampa Bay.
"New Jersey did a good job, I like a lot about their team but in the end we gave them the opportunity to win the game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "That was it. Some teams can take advantage of it and some can't and they took advantage of it."
Hischier tied the game 2-2 at 3:13 of the second period when he beat Vasilevskiy to the stick side on a 2-on-1 rush.

The Devils took a 3-2 lead at 6:27 of the second on a shorthanded goal by Zacha, who sent a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy on the short side.
"[It's] always good to see when you get a goal you can get pushback and score again," Hischier said. "It's what we've done the last couple of games and we've got to keep that up."
New Jersey made it 4-2 at 1:24 of the third period when Wood scored off a feed from Stefan Noesen.
"They can make some plays but when we're giving up 2-on-1s and guys [are] going behind the net on that fourth goal there and [we] leave the middle open, that's stuff we can control," Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi said. "If they make a couple tic-tac-toe plays and really good plays, we can live with that. But when it's stuff we can control it hurts."
Stamkos cut it to 4-3 with a one-timer from the left face-off circle on the power play at 5:15.

Lovejoy gave the Devils a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal at 2:59 of the first period. He scored on a quick shot from along the right-wing boards after the Lightning failed to clear the puck.
"I assume Vasilevskiy did not see my shot," Lovejoy said. "Miles Wood skated right in front of him. It was a well-placed shot that went in."
Kunitz tied it 1-1 at 12:41 of the first period off a no-look feed from Ryan Callahan, and Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by Point at 2:47 of the second.
"If we're not going to pay attention to our own net, give up odd-man rushes, it's tough for [Vasilevskiy] to bail us out every night," Stamkos said. "There were a lot of positives but they scored on the chances that we gave them for the most part tonight."

Goal of the game

Zacha's shorthanded goal at 6:27 of the second period.

Save of the game

Lack's save on Point at 11:20 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Kunitz's goal at 12:41 of the first period.

They said it

"Winning is just the best. Tonight was a huge win for us. But we have had an issue of responding after big wins. We need to forget about it, we've got a huge game tomorrow against a Carolina (Hurricanes) team we're battling with for a playoff spot." -- Devils defenseman Ben Lovejoy
"None of our scoring chances were a product of us taking a chance or taking a risk and for some reason we still feel like we have to and when you do that against a National Hockey League team you get burned. We got burned tonight." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Hischier, a rookie forward, has scored in three consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career. He has 12 goals in 58 games. ... New Jersey forward Taylor Hall had an assist, extending his point streak to 17 games (25 points; 11 goals, 14 assists), the longest in Devils history. ... Point scored for the first time in 10 games.

What's next

Devils: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; FS-CR, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNP, TVAS, NBCSWA, SUN, NHL.TV)