Friday, March 29, 2024
Sports Gaming Digest FREE Digital Sports Magazine Subscription

NHL Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning (40-22-6) at New Jersey Devils (44-17-6)

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:

LAST GAME
Lightning 4 at New Jersey 1
The Tampa Bay Lightning got back in the win column with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils March 14 at Prudential Center…Tampa Bay moved to 40-22-6 on the season with a road record of 16-16-1…Damon Severson opened the scoring for NJD when he jumped on a rebound in front at the 5:55 mark of the first period…After Ian Cole was sent to the penalty box for tripping, Brandon Hagel sped through all three zones and fed a pass to Anthony Cirelli, who made a move to the backhand and beat Vitek Vanecek to tie the game at one with his second shorthanded goal in as many games…At the 8:52 mark of the second period, Hagel took a pass from Mikhail Sergachev and skated into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 before firing a wrist shot past Vanecek to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead…With 6:05 remaining in the second, Hagel won a puck battle and dropped a pass to Alex Killorn, who skated into the slot and beat Vanecek with a shot to the near post to extend Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-1…As the second period was coming to a close, Nikita Kucherov skated into the offensive zone and completed a quick give-and-go with Brayden Point before roofing a backhand over the glove of Vanecek with 0.2 seconds remaining in the middle frame…Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves on 23 shots against for his 30th win of the season, marking the sixth-straight season that Vasilevskiy has hit the 30-win mark…The Lightning held NJD to 13 shots on goal over the final two periods and allowed 23 shots or fewer for the fourth-straight game…Steven Stamkos missed the game with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day.
PP: TBL – 0-2 NJD – 0-2
SOG: TBL – 30 NJD – 23
Attendance: 15,622

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and Devils are playing the second of three matchups this season and the second of back-to-back meetings at Prudential Center…Tampa Bay will wrap up the season series vs. NJD with the third meeting over the course of six days March 19 at AMALIE Arena…The Lightning posted a 2-1-0 record vs. NJD last season…Victor Hedman led all Bolts skaters with four points vs. NJD last season (2-2—4)…Steven Stamkos has picked up points in nine of his last 14 games at NJD (6-8—14)…Nikita Kucherov has posted a multi-point effort in four of his last seven games vs. NJD (5-7—12) and picked up points in 11 of the last 14 meetings (8-14—22)…Brayden Point has recorded points in nine of his last 11 games vs. NJD (6-13—19) and recorded a career high five-point game Oct. 30, 2018 vs. NJD (1-4—5)…Point has six points in his eight career games at NJD (2-8—10)…Brandon Hagel has pointed in all three of his career games vs. NJD (4-3—7) and scored his only career hat trick Feb. 25, 2022 vs. NJD…Nick Paul has found the scoresheet in four of his six career games vs. NJD (2-3—5)…Pat Maroon has points in six of his last nine games vs. NJD (3-4—7)…Corey Perry has picked up assists in four of his last five games at NJD (0-5—5)…Hedman points in six of his last seven contests vs. NJD (2-5—7)…The Lightning have scored three or more goals in 11 of the last 13 matchups vs. NJD (total: 54 goals)…Tampa Bay is 6-3-1 in their last 10 road games at NJD and 7-3-0 the last 10 meetings overall…The Bolts are 39-52-8 with seven ties all-time vs. NJD, including a road record of 18-30-5 with two ties…Vincent Lecavalier (16-28—44) and Martin St. Louis (18-26—44) are tied for the most career points vs. NJD in Tampa Bay franchise history, while Stamkos (21-18—39) holds the franchise record for most career goals vs. NJD.

TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. NJD
T1. Martin St. Louis – 44 pts. (18-26—44, 48 GP)
T1. Vincent Lecavalier – 44 pts. (16-28—44, 52 GP)

  1. Steven Stamkos – 39 pts. (21-18—39, 39 GP)
  2. Nikita Kucherov – 26 pts. (9-17—26, 19 GP)
    T5. Brayden Point – 22 pts. (7-15—22, 15 GP)
    T5. Brad Richards – 22 pts. (4-18—22, 27 GP)

TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the second game of a brief two-game road trip with both games set to be played vs. NJD at Prudential Center…The Bolts will play eight of their 16 games in March on the road…The Lightning are 9-6-2 against Metropolitan Division opponents and 19-14-3 against the Eastern Conference this season…Tampa Bay has held their opponent to 23 shots or fewer in each of the last four games…The Bolts have fired off 30 or more shots on goal in seven of the last eight contests…The Lightning will face Ondrej Palat for the second time since he signed with NJD last summer…Among all skaters in Tampa Bay franchise history, Palat (143-280—423, 628 GP) ranks eighth in games played, seventh in assists, ninth in points, 10th in goals and second in plus/minus (+147)…Palat’s 12 game-winning goals in the postseason remain the most in Lightning franchise history.

INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 104
Current Injuries:
Steven Stamkos (Lower-body injury; Day-to-day) 1 Game

TRANSACTIONS
March 4 – Recalled D Darren Raddysh from AHL Syracuse
March 3 – Re-assigned D Darren Raddysh to AHL Syracuse
March 2 – Recalled D Darren Raddysh from AHL Syracuse
March 1 – Acquired F Michael Eyssimont from San Jose in exchange for F Vladislav Namestnikov

NEW JERSEY DEVILS NOTES:

Last Game:
Tampa Bay Lightning 4 New Jersey Devils 1
(40-22-6 – 86 PTS) (44-17-6 – 94 PTS)
Three Stars: 1. B. Hagel 2. N. Kucherov 3. A. Cirelli
SCORE 1
ST 2
ND 3
RD OT SO FINAL
Tampa 1 3 0 – – 4
DEVILS 1 0 0 – – 1
Goals:
TBL: A. Cirelli (SHG), B. Hagel, A. Killorn, N. Kucherov
NJD: D. Severson
Game Summary | Event Summary

INJURIES/ILLNESS
PLAYER INJURY OUT SINCE GAMES MISSED
Jonathan Bernier – LTIR Lower-body, hip 2021-22 67
Mackenzie Blackwood I.R. Lower-body 2/21/23 11
2022-23 Total Man-Games Lost to Injury/illness: 182

TRANSACTIONS
DATE PLAYER ACTION
3/3/23 Curtis Lazar Acquired via trade from VAN
3/3/23 Kevin Bahl & Akira Schmid Loaned to & recalled from Utica
3/3/23 Graeme Clarke Reassigned to Utica

WHAT TO KNOW
The Devils hosted Tampa, and faced-off, with Tampa for the first time this season. Jersey’s team hosts Tampa in consecutive games, which also marks the final time that Tampa visits the Garden state for 2022-23. Yet, the Devils travel to the Sunshine state this weekend and hit the ice vs Florida on Saturday and then conclude the 2022-23 regular-season series vs Tampa on Sunday. The last time that the Devils played Tampa in consecutive games, and with no games vs other opponents in between, in the regular-season was Jan. 9, 2011, to Jan. 14. Jersey team hosted the Bolts in the first game (6-3, W) and then visited Tampa for the second contest (5-2, W). Thursday’s contest marks the first time in franchise history that the team plays Tampa at home in the regular season and in consecutive games. The Devils never visited Tampa for consecutive games played in franchise history. Tuesday’s 4-1 loss ended New Jersey’s three-game winning-streak that the team earned. The Devils were also held to one goal in a contest for the seventh time this season (1-6-0 record). The Devils enter Thursday’s contest seven wins shy of tying the franchise record (51) for the most wins in a single season, which was earned in 2008-09. The last time that the Devils earned 44 wins in a singles season was in 2017-18, and the last time that Jersey logged more than 44 wins in a season was in 2011-12 (48-28-6).

MARCH MADNESS
The Devils’ schedule for March entails 16 games, which marks the most contests that the team plays in a single month this season. The second most games played in a single month this season was 14 in November, after the team posted a 13-1-0 record. The Devils are 5-2-1 for the month of March, which ranked tied for third n the NHL, with Nashville (5-2-1) per March 15. Vegas ranked first for this matter with a 7-1-0. Jersey’s 27 goals for in the month of March led all Eastern Conference team, but ranked sixth in the NHL. Jersey’s power-play% ranked tied for fifth in the NHL with Florida and at 35.1% for the month of March, per March 15; while the team’s penalty kill ranked eighth at 92.3 (ranked third). The team is averaging 34.4 shots per game this month, which ranked sixth in the NHL…Florida ranked first this month at 39.6 S/GP.

VS CONFERENCE/DIVISION
The Devils are 21-4-4 vs the Western Conference this season. The franchise record for most wins vs the Western Conference was 18, which was logged in 2000-01. The Devils enter tonight’s contest with a 23-13-2 record vs the Eastern Conference and a 9-8-0 record vs the Atlantic Division for 2022-23. The team’s 23 wins vs the East are the third most earned in the NHL, while Boston ranks first (28) and Carolina ranks second (26).

BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
Overall: 12-5-1
First game: 5-3-1 | home: 0-1-0 | road: 5-2-1
Second game: 7-2-0 | home: 3-2-0 | road: 4-0-0

STATS EXPANDED
The Devils are 25-8-1 when scoring first in a game this season and 19-9-5 when trailing first in a contest. New Jersey’s 19 wins when trailing first in a game this season ranks first in the NHL, per March 16, while Boston (17-9-2) ranked second. The Devils are 28-0-2 when leading after the second period this season, while Boston ranks first in the NHL for this matter with a 35-1-2 record. The team’s zero regulation losses when leading after two periods is tied for the fewest with six other teams this season, per March 16. The Devils are 15-3-2 when outshot by an opponent this season and 28-14-4 when outshooting teams. The team’s three regulation losses when outshot are tied with Boston for the second fewest in the NHL. The Devils are 1-0-0 when shots are even vs an opponent for 2022-23. The Devils have allowed 1, or fewer, goals against 15 times this season in a game. Jersey’s team allowed one, or fewer goals against, in a game just eight times all of last season.

Related Articles

ScoreBig - Get Tickets for Less

Latest Articles

Sports Gaming Monitor