Lightning pull away to defeat Devils
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to get behind early, but almost as consistently, they battle back pretty well, as they did in bouncing back to a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night at Amalie Arena.
Facing the Devils for the third time in 12 games, Tampa Bay (7-4-1) dominated the second period with two goals, then pulled away on the first career goal by 20-year-old Brayden Point, who redirected a Nikita Kucherov shot off his stick for a power-play goal with 14:59 left in the third. Point had just missed on a spin move and shot, and scored just four seconds into the Lightning power play, which continues to be among the NHL's best. Kucherov added a goal of his own with 5:46 left, his fourth of the season, on a breakaway for the final margin.
Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop had 37 saves and shut the Devils down after the first period, while the Lightning got to Devils goalie Cory Schneider to win the season series 2-1. New Jersey (4-3-3) failed to pick up a point in the standings for the first time in six games.
The Lightning have scored power-play goals in four straight games and six total in those games, this after totaling seven in the first eight games of the season.
Tampa Bay had trailed 2-0 in each of the first two games against New Jersey, rallying back to win one, and they trailed 1-0 after one period Saturday before their scoring lines started clicking.
The Lightning fell behind early as they had in seven of their first 11 games but rallied to take the lead with two goals in the second period.
New Jersey took the lead on a goal by Damon Severson with 5:21 left in the first period on a rebound from a shot by Taylor Hall, who had stolen the puck from Lightning forward Ondrej Palat deep in the Tampa Bay zone.
The goal was Severson's second of the season, getting past Lightning goalie Ben Bishop, who otherwise made 19 saves in the first two periods.
Tampa Bay tied the score early in the second period as Brian Boyle scored his third goal of the season on a pass from Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman to beat Devils goalie Cory Schneider with 17:35 left.
The Lightning just missed a go-ahead goal when Nikita Kucherov had a shot bounce off the post and bounce on the goal line without passing into the net.
Hedman gave the Lightning the lead, firing a long shot past Schneider with 11:33 lead for a 2-1 lead on his third goal of the season.
The Lightning dominated the second period, not only with the 2-0 margin on the scoreboard but outshooting the Devils 21-8 after trailing 12-8 in the first period.
NOTES: Lightning LW Jonathan Drouin missed a second straight game after taking a hit to the head in Tuesday's win against the New York Islanders. He was scratched, along with D Nikita Nesterov. ... New Jersey had three healthy scratches in LW Reid Boucher, C Jacob Josefson and D Vojtech Mozik, who was called up this week. ... The Lightning go back on the road Monday to face the Florida Panthers before returning home for two against the Islanders and San Jose Sharks. ... The Devils' next two are a home-and-home series against the Carolina Hurricanes, with a back-to-back game on Sunday in Raleigh, N.C., and a home game on Tuesday.