Devils at Lightning
Kyle Palmieri and his linemates look to continue their hot start Tuesday night when they open a season-long seven-game road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs last April. Palmieri has produced eight goals in the first eight games of the campaign and his line - with reigning Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall and 19-year-old Nico Hischier - is averaging four points per contest.
“The other two guys on my line, they’re pretty world-class players,” Palmieri told NJ.com. “They can make some of those mannequins that are sitting in the hallway look pretty good. We’re working well together, creating chances for each other.” New Jersey answered three straight losses (0-2-1) with a 3-2 victory over Florida on Saturday and hope to avenge a 4-1 series loss against the Lightning last spring in its first trip to the playoffs since 2012. The Devils will run into an angry team Tuesday after Tampa Bay ended an otherwise successful five-game trip with a 7-1 setback at Arizona on Saturday after posting at least a point in seven straight contests. “It’s a tough schedule, but at the same time, it’s not good enough,” Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan told the Tampa Bay Times. “You can’t come in here and lose that game like that. … We have to be better than that.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New Jersey), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (5-2-1): Hall owns a seven-game point streak and boasts 11 overall - two behind team leader Palmieri - while Hischier produced multiple points in three of the last four games to push his season total to eight. Defenseman Damon Severson, who was a healthy scratch in Game 1 of the playoffs against Tampa Bay last season, is off to a strong start with one point in seven of the first eight contests of 2018-19. Keith Kinkaid (5-2-1, 2.12 goals-against average, .925 save percentage) has played every minute in net and will likely be joined by Cory Schneider (hip) in a rotation soon after the latter was activated following three rehab games in the American Hockey League.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (7-2-1): Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who gave up two or fewer goals in six of his first seven starts, will likely be back in net after being rested in favor of backup Louis Domingue on Saturday. Reigning Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman is out at least a few more games with an upper-body injury and left wing Ondrej Palat (lower body) is not expected to play Tuesday and possibly Thursday against Nashville. Adam Erne, who replaced Palat in the lineup, scored Tampa Bay’s only goal Saturday and Yanni Gourde notched an assist to tie fellow forwards Brayden Point (team-high six goals), J.T. Miller and Nikita Kucherov for the club lead with nine points.
OVERTIME
1. The Lightning lead the league in penalty killing (95.1 percent) and the Devils are fifth (87.9).
2. New Jersey RW Joey Anderson logged 8:30 of ice time during his NHL debut Saturday.
3. Tampa Bay D Mikhail Sergachev posted a minus-6 rating Saturday after being a plus-6 in the season’s first nine games.