Special Teams a Factor in Devils Loss to Tampa | GAME STORY

Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff said in his morning availability that special teams would play a major role in this game. He was correct.
Both teams traded power-play goals to start the game, while New Jersey squandered a four-minute manadvantage and allowed the Tampa Bay Lightning to score shorthanded.
The game even had some penalty shot action, with Jon Gillies making a big save only to see that shorthanded goal come moments later.
"That would have been a good chance for us to get a lead there and make it a good lead for us and a hockey game," said Devils forward Jack Hughes. "We did exactly what we didn't need to do. We needed to at least get momentum. If we don't score, at least get us some good chances for our team. But we obviously gave up a penalty shot and then the goal too, which is disappointing. We've been really good on the power play as of late. That was a chance for us to make a huge difference."
The Devils trailed 2-1 entering the third period and that's when Jack Hughes buried a loose puck at the side of the net with 9:05 to go. Unfortunately for the Devils 60 seconds later, Tampa answered back with Anthony Cirelli burying a puck from right on top of goaltender Jon Gillies.
The Devils pulled Gillies with around two minutes left in the game, looking to get that elusive second equalizer. New Jersey's time ran out on the comeback and they fell 3-2 to begin the road trip 0-1.

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WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils continue their road trip on Saturday in Raleigh against the Hurricanes. The game can be seen on MSG+ and heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. ET.
Here are some observations, notes, and quotes from the game...
- Nate Bastian: Power Play Weapon? Since the usual fourth-liner found a role on the Devils man advantage on Dec. 19, New Jersey's special teams have seen major improvements. The power play ranked 6th in the NHL since that day heading into tonight's game. They were 31st from opening night until Dec. 19. Jack Hughes' return from injury has added more skill to the Devils power play, while Bastian is mucking it up in front and that's noticeable. - Speaking of the power play, the Severson marker extended the Devils streak to six straight games with a PPG. - Jon Gillies was phenomenal in the first period, keeping the Lightning off the board on all 18 of their shots that go through. - Alex Killorn's 14th goal of the season came at 18:14 of the second period. The goal tied the game at 1-1 and came on the power play. New Jersey had went the previous four games without allowing an opposing team to score on the man advantage. - With 6:10 remaining in the second, Anthony Cirelli was awarded a penalty shot but was stopped by a sprawling Gillies. - Unfortunately for the Devils, things went downhill seconds after play resumed. The Devils were in the middle of a four-minute power-play but Tampa had been controlling the puck shorthanded. Mathieu Joseph solved Gillies after the goaltender thought he had made the save but left the puck sitting in front for a juicy opportunity. Tampa went up 2-1. - "It was a moment of the game where we could have taken control and gotten that second power-play goal," Ruff said. He mentioned it was probably the one major negative in the game. Otherwise, Ruff really liked the way his club played for the full 60 minutes. Hughes echoed that sentiment. See below. - With his goal, Hughes extended his point streak to five games, and tied his career-high of 11 goals in less than half the games it took last season (25 compared to 56). - Hughes had some good quotes in his post-game media availability about a game the Devils probably deserved to get at least a point out of.

"It's a 60-minute game," Hughes said. "Ups and downs throughout the game. They're the best team in the League until someone knocks them off. They're a really good team and know how to win. We'll get to that point one day. That's a better hockey team than us, but we played a really good game tonight. Disappointed to not get the two points."

"If you take a step back, it's encouraging. But at the end of the day, we played a hard 60 minutes. To come up short with no points is frustrating. When you play like that and play hard you want to come out with at least one and most the time two but it's a good team. It's a frustrating loss but we played a good game and we have three more games before the break. Just need to keep playing like that."

- Gillies finished the night with 32 saves of 35 shots and gave the Devils a chance to win, but he said after the game he wish he had just one more save in him. "I know I'm capable of coming up with the extra save. Not making them the last few games is frustrating but it's a long season. Just got to keep going the way we're going as a whole and for me personally just keep going and keep getting better."