3/24 Pregame Notes: Devils vs. Lightning

The Devils scored three goals in the second period, in a span of 3:39, to earn their 20th road win of the season. The 20 wins is the most the club has recorded on the road since the 2011-12 season.

New Jersey finished their season long six-game road trip 4-2-0 and are 24-15-5 against the Eastern Conference and 13-9-1 vs the Metropolitan Division.

This is the first time the Devils have gone undefeated at Pittsburgh in a season series since the 2009-10 season, when they went 3-0-0 and 6-0-0 overall. New Jersey is 4-8-1 at Pittsburgh and are 12-11-2 overall against the Penguins since the 2012-13 season.

New Jersey started their 15th of 16 back-to-back sets and improved to 8-5-2 in first games of back-to-backs.

The Devils defeated Penguins goalie Matt Murray, handing him the first loss of his career against New Jersey (4-0-1).

Taylor Hall scored the game-winning goal in overtime and added two assists to surpass his previous career high of 80 points in a season, in six fewer games played (2013-14: 27-53-80, 75 GP; 2017-18: 33-48-81, 69GP). Hall also notched his 24th multi-point game this season, tying Ilya Kovalchuk (2011-12), Kirk Muller (1989-90), and Petr Sykora (1998-99) as Devils who have recorded 24 multi-point games in a season. 

Keith Kinkaid reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in his career, stopping 40 out of 43 shots (.930 SV%). Kinkaid has won all three games against the Penguins this season, improving to 3-2-1 in his career.

Will Butcher scored his third goal of the season and his first career power play goal to open the scoring for New Jersey. The goal was his first since Nov. 20 at MIN, snapping a 52-game goal drought. Butcher is now tied for the third for most power play points by a Devils rookie defenseman (Eric Weinrich-20, Scott Niedermayer-19, Eric Gelinas-17, Will Butcher-17) in the team's history.

Blake Coleman notched the second goal for New Jersey and has four goals in the last five games.

John Moore ended a 14-game point drought by assisting Nico Hischier's 17th goal of the season. Hischier earned his 11th multi-point game of the year (1G-1A), passing Slava Fetisov (1989-90) for fourth all-time in New Jersey Devils history for multi-point games by a rookie.

Drew Stafford assisted Coleman's goal, and now has three assists in his last two games.

Pavel Zacha and Damon Severson also recorded assists on the night. It was Zacha's first game back after missing six games due to an upper-body injury.

TONIGHT vs TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Devils will close out their 15th of 16 back-to-back sets against the Lightning. The club is 8-5-2 in first games and 6-8-0 in second games.

New Jersey is 6-3-0 against Tampa Bay at home and 8-7-2 overall against Tampa Bay since the 2012-13 season. Additionally, the Devils are 18-14-3 at home this season, while the Lightning are 24-11-2 on the road and own the second-best road record in the league.

In their last meeting the Devils defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3, in their only meeting at Amalie Arena this season. The Devils lead the season-series, 2-0-0 and defeated the Lightning 5-4 in a shootout on Oct. 17th. The last time New Jersey swept Tampa Bay in a season series was the 2008-09 season (4-0-0). It will be the Devils first game at Prudential Center since they lost, 3-2, to the Winnipeg Jets on March 8th.

Eddie Lack earned his first victory as a Devil, stopping 48 of 51 shots in the victory on Feb. 17th. The 48 saves and 51 shots against were both career highs for Lack.

Miles Wood scored the game-winning goal for the Devils, but received a two-game suspension for boarding former Tampa Bay forward Vladislav Namestnikov.

Additionally, Pavel Zacha scored his first shorthanded goal/point of his career, while Ben Lovejoy had a goal and an assist for his second two-point game of the season.

Nico Hischier leads the Devils in their season series with three points (1G-2A), while five other Devils have recorded two points against the Lightning in 2017-18. Steven Stamkos leads all Lightning with 4 points (2G-2A) against the Devils this season. 

In their careers against the Lightning, Cory Schneider is 4-4-1 (.904 SV%, 3.07 GAA) and Keith Kinkaid is 1-1-1 (.892 SV%, 2.84 GAA). Schneider stopped 33 of 37 shots and all three attempts in the shootout, in the Devils first win against the Lightning on Oct. 17.