NEW JERSEY DEVILS (13-4-1) vs. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (9-7-2)

New Jersey continues its five-game road trip with a stop in Florida to face the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Read below for your game preview presented by Shovlin Mattress Factory and check back for the pre-game story.

MORNING SKATE RECAP

TAMPA, Fla. - When the Devils hit the ice for warmups, expect all members of the New Jersey Devils on the road trip to be on the ice. The Devils are on the second half of their five-game road trip and picked up Dougie Hamilton, Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov in Jersey after playing the opening two games of the trip in Chicago and Washington.

All three players skated on Monday and Keefe noted that they will all be game-time decisions in Tampa Bay.

"All three guys are preparing to play, I'd call them game-time decisions," Keefe said. "We'll just have to montior them to see how they are. They haven't skated as much as we'd like them to with the group, so that's our challenge right now. Medically, they're feeling good. No issues there. Just making sure they're feeling right to get back in the game with the limited amount of practice time and time with our group."

When these two teams last met, in Game 2 of the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning came out flying, exerting their physical presence before the Devils took over with their skill. Keefe expects more of the same from Tampa, who are also dealing with a slew of injuries of their own.

"Tampa, they’re a team that’s playing a lot better now and feeling better," Keefe said. "I just expect the game to start silimar to the last time we were in here. We’ve got to match that. We’ve just got to keep playing the way that we have and bring that same level of intensity we brought to Game 2 of the season.”

THE SCOOP

The Devils continue to defy the odds despite a list of injuries that could fill the chapter in a book. The team is 13-4-1 with 27 points on the season - good for first place in the Eastern Conference. The club is 4-0-1 in the past five games despite missing key figures in Jack Hughes (finger), Brett Pesce (upper-body), Dougie Hamilton (undisclosed) and Cody Glass (upper-body).

New Jersey is in the midst of a five-game road trip. The contest against the Lightning will be the third leg of the trip with the Devils picking wins in the opening two contests at Chicago (4-3 OT) and at Washington (3-2 SO).

On Monday, the team recalled defenseman Ethan Edwards from Utica of the American Hockey League. At practice that day, Hamilton and forwards Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov skated at practice. Their availability is yet to be determined for the game against Tampa. Blueliner Brenden Dillon did not practice but did skate prior and joined the team on the trip.

The Lightning are off to a rocky start the season and are in a dogfight for a Wild Card spot. The Bolts have 20 points on the year (two back of the final WC position). A mere four points separate nine teams vying for Wild Card spots. Tampa Bay is in the midst of a three-game homestand. They opened with a 6-2 loss to Vancouver before facing the Devils.

Despite the rough start, the Lightning are still stacked with talent in players like Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Andrei Vasilevskiy. However, the injury bug has also run through Tampa with Hedman, Hagel, Ryan McDonaugh and Anthony Cirelli missing action.

WHO’S HOT

Devils: Rookie defenseman Simon Nemec has had an incredible three-game run with the club. He started by scoring a goal with 4 seconds remaining in regulation against the New York Islanders to help the Devils earn a point in an eventual OT loss. He followed that by scoring a hat trick - capped off with the overtime winner - at Chicago. Nemec then potted the game-deciding shootout tally against Washington to lift the Devils to a win - his first career shootout attempt.

Lightning: Winger Jake Guentzel has points in four of his past five games, including three goals.

INJURIES

Devils:
J. Hughes (finger)
MacEwen (lower-body)
Glass (upper-body)
Hamilton (undisclosed)
Brown (undisclosed)
Pesce (upper-body)
Dadonov (hand)
Kovacevic (knee)
McLaughlin (undisclosed)

Lightning:
Paul (upper-body)
Cirelli (upper-body)
McDonagh (lower-body)
James (upper-body)
Hedman (undisclosed)
Holmberg (undisclosed)

REGULAR-SEASON RESULTS

• Oct. 11 at Tampa Bay, W 5-3
• Nov. 18 at Tampa Bay
• Dec. 11 vs. Tampa Bay

GAME NOTES

• The Devils current 5-game road trip is the club's longest of the season.
• New Jersey is 4-0-1 in its past five games, all of which have gone past regulation. In the two previous occurances of playing five straight extra time games (Jan. 27 - Feb. 7, 1996; March 4-13, 1996) saw the club go 2-0-3 in each.
• The Devils are 9-0-1 when scoring first and 10-0-0 when leading after two periods.
• Jake Guentzel has 49 goals and 97 points in 98 career games with Tampa.
• Nikita Kucherov scored his 365th career goal Saturday against Vancouver, tying him Martin St. Louis for third place all time in team history.