Hagel's natural hat trick, 4 points power Lightning past Devils

NEWARK, N.J. -- Brandon Hagel scored a natural hat trick in the second period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning won 8-5 against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

It was the third NHL hat trick for Hagel, who also had an assist in the second period.

"He deserves it. He just finds a way," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "I thought that line (Hagel-Anthony Cirelli-Conor Geekie) was really strong. I thought [Cirelli] had a heck of a game, and you'd like to see those guys get rewarded because they have tough assignments night in and night out. So, for them to score is great."

Victor Hedman scored two goals, Janis Moser had a goal and two assists, Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, and Cirelli had four assists for the Lightning (4-2-0). Jonas Johansson made 30 saves.

"I thought when we started getting pucks in behind their defense we were using our legs, forechecking hard, getting pucks to the net, and all the things that kind of make up our game," Cirelli said. "We started doing more in that second period. I thought it was great effort from the guys."

Timo Meier scored two goals, Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists, and Jake Allen made 29 saves for the Devils (5-3-1).

"It's no fun when you get outplayed and outcompeted like that," Meier said. "We have the right guys in this room that we can bounce back from a game like this, and it starts with a great practice tomorrow."

Hughes gave the Devils a 1-0 lead on a breakaway at 11:02 of the first period.

Brayden Point tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 14:09, scoring on a shot from the left post.

Meier made it 2-1 on a snap shot from the slot 51 seconds into the second period.

"In that second period, we had a bad line change and it goes in and now we're at that point, 'Are we going to sink or swim?'" Cooper said. "And the boys dug in, got the big lead and hung on."

Hedman tied the game 2-2 at 7:34, scoring on a wrist shot from low in the left face-off circle.

Hagel scored his first of the game to put the Lightning in front 3-2 at 9:27. He then made it 4-2 off a rush at 13:01 before extending it to 5-2 on a rebound in the slot at 15:53.

"[Hagel's] unbelievable," Cirelli said. "You see just the way he scores his goals, the way he makes plays, how good he is in the defensive zone. He's a guy that does it all for us."

Two of Hagel's three career hat tricks have come against New Jersey.

"I was thinking about that after the game," Hagel said. "I know I had another one against them. I don't know, I guess they're just my team and hopefully it stays that way. We'll see the next game."

Hedman scored his second of the game on a slap shot from the point to make it 6-2 at 17:28.

Nathan Bastian scored for the Devils at 2:56 of the third period to make it 6-3. Meier then pulled New Jersey to within 6-4 with a power-play goal from the right circle at 5:24.

Guentzel scored a power-play goal from the slot 24 seconds later to give Tampa Bay a 7-4 lead.

"I thought when they had the puck they made a ton of plays and really stressed us defensively," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We were on our half of the ice too much and struggled on our breakouts."

Moser pushed it to 8-4 at 9:19, scoring a short-handed goal from his own zone on a clearing attempt that deflected in off the boards after Allen went to play the puck behind his net.

Stefan Noesen scored a power-play goal for the Devils at 12:45 for the 8-5 final.

NOTES: Nikita Kucherov had an assist for the Lightning to extend his season-opening point streak to six games (seven goals, four assists). ... Tampa Bay has won eight of its past nine against New Jersey, including five straight at Prudential Center. ... Meier extended his point streak to three games (two goals, four assists). ... Devils defenseman Daniil Misyul had one hit and one blocked shot in 12:23 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... New Jersey hadn't allowed eight goals in a game on home ice since an 8-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 11, 1992. ... The Lightning scored on both of their power plays. The Devils had killed 19 of 21 penalties through their first seven games.