The Devils were out-shot, 34-37, despite finishing the first period with a 15-11 shot advantage.
Kyle Palmieri led the way for NJ, scoring the game-deciding goal in round three of the shootout. It was his second career GDG. He also scored his second goal of the season (PP) at 16:19 during the second frame.
Drew Stafford opened up the scoring for New Jersey at 2:45 of the first period. He then tied the game (PP) at four apiece with just 4:06 remaining in the game. It was his first multi-goal game as a Devil. Stafford has three goals in his last two games since returning from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for three games, Oct. 9-13. He has 14 goals in 35 career games against Tampa Bay. He had a season-high five shots on net.
Brian Gibbons continued his hot-streak, notching his third goal of the season at 19:08 of the second first period. Before signing with New Jersey, Gibbons had five goals over 66 combined NHL games with Pittsburgh and Columbus.
Nico Hischier had his first ever multi-point NHL performance, notching two assists (both primary) on both of Stafford's goals. He skated in a season-high 18:21.
Will Butcher continued his scoring-streak, which now stands at a team-leading four games (6A). Butcher had one assist on Stafford's opening goal. He leads New Jersey and is tied for first among all NHL defensemen with nine points. (DET; Mike Green - 1G-8A).
Cory Schneider stopped 33 of 37 shots (.891 save%) and was perfect in the shootout; denying all three Lightning shooters.
Damon Severson, Taylor Hall, Steven Santini, Miles Wood & Adam Henrique also each had one assist. Santini led the club with a career-high 25:40 of ice-time and tied his previous career-high with five shots (also, Feb. 14, 2017 vs. COL).
TONIGHT'S GAME
New Jersey will face Ottawa in two of their next three games (Oct. 27 @ NJ). The clubs will meet for their third and final matchup of the regular season on Feb. 6 at Canadian Tire Centre.
In 2016-17, the Senators swept the Devils, 3-0-0. NJD was held point-less against the Sens for the first time in 24 seasons of matches between the two clubs.
During preseason action, the Devils took a commanding 8-1 victory over the Sens in Canada's 2017 Kraft Hockeyville in Prince Edward Island. The Devils battled the Sens and took a 4-0 lead during the first 10:21 of action. Pavel Zacha, Drew Stafford and John Quenneville each had two goals during the exhibition.
The Devils are 3-0-0 against Atlantic Division opponents (1-0-0 at home) and are 3-0-0 on the road.
Tonight, New Jersey opens its second of 16 back-to-back matches. They face-off against the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night (7PM) at Prudential Center. The club is 0-1-0 in first games and is 1-0-0 in second matches of back-to-back scenarios. The Devils will open their third set of games on consecutive days when they face the Senators on Fri., Oct. 27.
POWERFUL PLAYMAKERS
After five games, the Devils are ranked first in the NHL with a 30.8% success rate on the power play. They have scored eight times on 26 attempts, including collecting three man-advantage tallies in their season-opener, Oct. 7 vs. COL. The league average is 19.1% (as of Oct. 18).
CHILD'S PLAY
Defenseman Will Butcher leads all NHL rookies with nine points (9A) and a plus-6 rating. Five of his nine helpers have been on the power play.
On Oct. 14 at NYR, he set an NHL record, becoming the first rookie defenseman in NHL history to have at least eight assists in his first five career games. He and Jesper Bratt (3G-3A-6PTS) rank first and second, respectively, among all NHL rookies in scoring.
