Devils at Lightning
The New Jersey Devils attempt to stretch their point streak to six games when they finish a short trip to the Sunshine State against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. The Devils are 3-0-2 in their last five contests after losing for the third time in their four overtime games this season Thursday at Florida 4-3 and visit the Lightning for the second time in three weeks.
New Jersey coughed up a two-goal lead and lost 3-2 in Tampa on Oct. 15 and have lost once in regulation since – handling the Lightning 3-1 at home on Oct. 29. Tampa Bay started strong with five wins in its first six games, but has been shaky on both ends of the ice since with one victory in five contests. The Lightning fell behind 2-0 in the first period before losing 4-3 in a shootout to Boston on Thursday and have tallied in the opening 20 minutes in only three of their 11 games while scoring first only four times. “They always say good teams find a way to win,” Tampa Bay center Tyler Johnson told reporters. “We found some ways this year, but you don’t want to have to rely on that. As the season goes on, teams are going to be tougher to beat.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG Plus 2 (New Jersey), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (4-2-3): Goaltender Cory Schneider allowed two or fewer goals in five of eight outings to open the season and is expected to get the start Saturday before backup Keith Kinkaid goes Sunday at Carolina. Defenseman Damon Severson leads the team with eight points (seven assists) while putting up at least two in three of the last four contests. Winger Taylor Hall, a major acquisition from Edmonton in the offseason, leads the way with five goals and Travis Zajac, along with PA Parenteau, have four apiece for New Jersey.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (6-4-1): Tampa Bay is warming up on the power play again, converting on 5-of-15 in the last three games, but came up empty with a 4-on-3 skater advantage in overtime Thursday. Speedy forward Jonathan Drouin, who left Tuesday’s contest against the New York Islanders with an upper-body injury, could skate Saturday but is expected to miss his second straight game. Captain Steven Stamkos tops the team with seven goals and shares the lead in points (13) with right wing Nikita Kucherov (10 assists).
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay G Ben Bishop, who was rested Thursday, is 7-2-0 with a 1.31 goals-against average and .949 save percentage against the Devils.
2. New Jersey LW Mike Cammalleri, who has 277 career goals, has yet to score in the first nine games of the season.
3. The victory last week snapped a five-game losing streak against the Lightning for the Devils, who have dropped three straight at Tampa Bay.