1 week Ago By James Nichols, New Jersey Hockey Now
Entering Saturday night feeling pretty good about themselves after sweeping the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the New Jersey Devils put up a nothingburger. That’s right, New Jersey got completely away from what they did in Sunrise, feeding the Florida Panthers their own game and walking away with four points. Credit where it’s due, the Tampa Bay Lightning negated all the Devils’ strengths.
But New Jersey showed little to no push back and succumbed to defeat. Devils Recap The Devils hung in tight with the Lightning in the opening frame, much like how they did in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers. However, it was Tampa Bay who scored first as Nick Paul broke the ice.
The middle frame went scoreless, however, the Lightning picked up the scoring to start the third period. Darren Raddysh teed up his first goal of the season under a minute into the final frame to double the Lightning lead. That broke the dam, as Tampa Bay added two more goals on the sticks of Victor Hedman (power play goal) and Anthony Cirelli (empty-net goal).
Despite allowing three, Jacob Markstrom turned in a strong 22 saves on 25 shots. Takeaways Markstrom Starts Strong The Devils didn’t necessarily play poorly in the first period. However, the Lightning produced the better scoring chances.
As a result, Paul netted the first goal of the game on a shot that Markstrom didn’t see because he was screened. However, the Lightning certainly had enough scoring chances to take a larger lead into the first intermission. However, the Swedish netminder made a number of strong stops, including a few on the Devils’ penalty kill.
That strong start carried through the remaining 40 minutes, and gave us this incredible stop on another look for Paul. Looks like our guy’s glove works just fine against a Paul. pic.
twitter.com/OyrGHgWVv1 — New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 17, 2024 Markstrom is beginning to look more comfortable in a Devils sweater, and a good sign of that are the number of high-danger saves he’s making. It’s too bad the Devils didn’t show up for him in the third period.
Power(less) Play The Devils entered Saturday night against the Lightning with an NHL fourth-best power play. However, they didn’t look all that threatening. Perhaps credit is due to the Lightning penalty kill.
They won most of their defensive zone draws and promptly cleared pucks. Then, they met the Devils at their blue line and denied them entry to the offensive zone often. Still, the Devils—who are built on speed and skill at their foundation—failed to enter the Tampa Bay end of the ice to set up shop and cycle the puck.
It’s unlike the Devils to struggle on the man advantage. Either tip your cap to the Lightning PKers, or point to the power play units for their inability to take advantage. Perhaps Luke Hughes should get a look on the first power play unit.
Deflated The Devils might have had a lot of shots in this one, but none too many were in high danger areas that put the pressure on Andrei Vasilevskiy. Sure, the Lightning netminder recorded a shutout, but the majority of the Devils’ shots that were generated were perimeter chances with little to no rebound pressure. Whereas New Jersey scored first in both contests against the Panthers, it did not go that way against the Lightning and that was partly what took the wind out of the Devils’ sails.
Then there was the fact that the few dangerous chances the Devils put on Vasilevskiy, he turned them aside. New Jersey didn’t have their legs in this one. It happens.
Now, they’ll have four days off of game action to collect themselves before hosting the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. READ MORE: Turning Point? Devils Beginning to Fulfill Tom Fitzgerald’s Vision This article first appeared on New Jersey Hockey Now and was syndicated with permission..
