Devils hurt by playoff inexperience in first-round loss to Lightning

The New Jersey Devils beat the odds by qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs one season after finishing last in the Eastern Conference.
Despite losing the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round to the Atlantic Division champion Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, it appears the rebuild that began three seasons ago under the watch of general manager Ray Shero is ahead of schedule.

The Devils went 10-4-2 in their final 16 regular-season games to clinch a playoff berth for the first time in six seasons, earning the second wild card from the East into the playoffs by finishing one point ahead of the Florida Panthers.
They were led by a prolific point-producer and possible Hart Trophy finalist in forward Taylor Hall, a skilled and motivated rookie center in Nico Hischier and a rookie defenseman who helped quarterback the power play in Will Butcher.
Here are 5 reasons the Devils were eliminated:
RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Devils series coverage]

1. Inexperience

The Devils entered the series with 488 total games of playoff experience among the players on their roster; the Lightning had 1,152. At times, that lack of experience resulted in unwise decisions, particularly in the three games at Amalie Arena. The Devils lost the face-off battle (165-150), and committed more turnovers (40-30) in the series.
"The power play was crucial for them in Games 1 and 2," defenseman Andy Greene said. "I don't want to say it was inexperience, but mistakes on our part were key and they capitalized. They were patient and they created and when there was a mistake, they made us pay."

2. Not-so-special teams

The Devils were outscored 5-3 on the power play in the series, and two of their goals came while they were skating 5-on-3. They were 3-for-19 with the man-advantage (15.8 percent); 0-for-3 in a 5-3 loss in Game 2 at Amalie Arena, and 1-for-6 in a 3-1 loss in Game 4 at Prudential Center.
The Devils' inability to keep the Lightning off the scoreboard while shorthanded early in the series played a big part in the outcome of the first two games. The Lightning went 1-for-1 in a 5-2 win in Game 1 and 2-for-3 in a 5-3 win in Game 2. Tampa Bay finished 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) for the series. The Devils did kill 12 straight Lightning power plays during the final two-plus games of the series, including all five in Game 5.

3. Inability to finish

The Devils had plenty of grinders among their bottom-six forwards, but not enough point producers. Though Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (2.01 goals-against average, .941 save percentage) was a big part of that, the Devils could not get much going 5-on-5 in critical stages of games.
Hall and Blake Coleman were the only players with more than one goal, and one of Coleman's two goals was scored into an empty net. The Lightning had three players with at least two goals and forward Nikita Kucherov led all players in the series with five.

4. Let's get physical

The Devils seemed distracted from their quick-strike rhythm because of the Lightning's strategy to play hard and aggressive in the neutral zone and along the wall. Whenever a Tampa Bay player had an opportunity to deliver a hit, he did. The Lightning were almost daring the Devils to retaliate and stray away from the fast, supportive structure that played a part in their regular-season success.
The Lightning averaged 21.0 hits per game during the regular season. They averaged 30.2 in the five games against New Jersey.

5. Road disappointment

The Devils went 21-14-5 on the road during the regular season, marking the first time in six seasons they had at least 20 road wins. But that success away from Prudential Center didn't carry over against the Lightning. The Devils went 0-3, were outscored 13-6 and were guilty of coming out of the gate slower than their opponent; they were outscored 4-1 in the first period of the three games at Amalie Arena.