Here are some observations from the game:
• Sometimes luck goes your way. Sometimes it doesn’t. Hischier looked like he couldn’t buy a goal after he was robbed by the glove hand of goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. But minutes later, it would be a lucky bounce (or two) that would land the Devils captain on the scoresheet.
After rookie Arseny Gritsyuk sent a hard shot toward the goal from the far circle, the puck went off of Vasilevskiy and landed in the crease near the opposite post. The puck would then deflect off Hischier’s skate and off the skate of Tampa’s JJ Moser and across the goal line.
It was originally ruled no goal on the ice for being kicked in. But after review, the refs reversed the call due to Moser touching it last.
Hischier on his goal: “I didn’t know the rule. I bounced it toward the net, didn’t get a stick on it. I thought it was a goal but didn’t know the rule. That was probably one of the weirdest goals I’ve scored.”
• The Devils started to really turn the tide in their favor late in the second period. It was a wave of scoring opportunities that would finally culminate with Hischier’s goal.
It started with Hischier getting a great chance from the near circle on a quick one-time snap shot. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made a phenomenal split glove save on the play. Minutes later Jesper Bratt would weave through traffic and cut to the crease for a scoring chance. Luke Hughes would get a good look at the net following an O zone sequence. New Jersey built some momentum and the captain capped it off with his goal.
• The Devils fell behind 3-0 in the contest due to sloppy play and some breakdowns. The Devils weren’t clicking with their passes and positioning in the first period, and it led to a few Lightning scoring opportunities. Tampa opened the scoring after Dawson Mercer’s attempted pass to Timo Meier inside the Lightning blue line was picked off by Jake Guentzel, who went in for a breakaway and tally.
On the Lightning’s second goal, Kucherov finished the play with a goal. However, as the puck was dumped into the Devils zone, it appeared that Brenden Dillon was ahead of Brandon Hagel. Thus, the play could have been blown dead for icing. Seconds later, Kucherov scored.
• The Devils’ injury list is long. But it got a little bit shorter against the Lightning as forwards Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov and defenseman Dougie Hamilton all returned to the lineup.
Keefe: “They looked like guys that haven’t played or practiced. It’s what you thought you were going to get. But that’s the nature of the beast. With where we’re at with the number of injuries we have, we thought getting them the game reps and getting back going that way is the best way to go about it. They’re cleared medically. They’ll get better every game. They got better throughout this game. Those guys were much better in the third period than they were in the first two.”
Dadonov: "I'm happy to play again, that's for sure. A little rusty because I didn't finish one game in the regular season. It's been over a month. It's hard to get in right away. I felt as the game went on I felt a little bit better."
