TBL NJD Game Story

NEWARK, NJ - For the second straight game, the Devils entered overtime. But unlike their previous outing, the Devils escaped this time with two points.

Stefan Noesen scored the winner on a power play as the Devils defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2, in overtime at Prudential Center Saturday night.

With 1:01 remaining on a power play in overtime and after taking a timeout, the Devils went with a four-forward look of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt and Stefan Noesen. And it paid off with Noesen scoring the winner.

"The way they saw it, they were attacking Bratt and those guys high and there was some space underneath the net," Noesen said. "Get ready down there, try to weasel your way in there. Got a lucky bounce. ... It went over the one guys stick. I just tried to get it up."

"Just watching the first portion of the (power play) it felt like we needed to get Noesen on the inside and at the net, have more activity at the crease," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "It felt like there would be opportunities for the puck to get inside and Noes is the guy, he does it so well, better than most in the league. With four forwards, I didn't want to take off the other three. The process of elimination, you get four forwards.

"It wasn't something we were considering at the start, but we recognized we could use Noes' presence there."

Ondrej Palat and Jack Hughes scored in regulation for the Devils.

The Devils have now won six straight games at home.

Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov notched the Bolts’ two goals.

POST-GAME VIDEO
Devils Post-Game Interviews: Jack | Noesen | Markstrom | Siegenthaler

TBL at NJD | Recap

Noesen buries the OT winner to push the home winning streak to six as Jersey defeats Tampa 3-2.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Jack Hughes victimized Tampa’s Brayden Point twice while scoring his 17th goal of the season. The Lightning were breaking the puck out when Point, in the neutral zone, tried a long, cross-ice pass. Hughes intercepted the puck and transitioned into offense immediately. Hughes gained the blue line and then pulled up above the circles. Hughes’ shot then hit the stick of Point, who had backtracked and put his stick in the shot lane. The deflected shot beat Vasilevskiy over the shoulder for the goal.

"The goal he scores in the second is a great defensive play," Keefe said. "He has great positioning. He knocks a puck down and makes good on the shot."

• Palat scored his second career goal against his former employer. Palat opened the game’s scoring in the first period when he re-directed a Dougie Hamilton point shot past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. The rising show was re-directed back toward the ice where it actually bounced and still sneaked through Vasilevskiy up high.

Palat now has seven goals, four assists and 11 points in his last 15 games.

• The Devils PK unit surrendered two goals to the NY Rangers on Thursday night. They faced a stiff test in Tampa Bay, which boasted the No. 4 power play in the NHL entering Saturday’s action. And the Devils PK redeemed themselves by killing off all three man-advantage opportunities, two in the third period, for the Bolts, thank in large part to an outrageous arm save by goalie Jacob Markstrom on Point.

"Their power play stresses the heck out of you," Keefe said. "The guys did a really good job. We had a breakdown and 'Marky' made a huge save for us."

• After Jack Hughes’ goal at 15:16, the Devils went 18:52 minutes (nearly an entire period) until recording their next shot. They didn’t record their first shot in the third period until there was 5:52 to play in regulation.

• The Devils are 21-0-1 when leading after two periods.

After a 3-2 OT win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Devils coach Sheldon Keefe addresses the team

WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils host the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center on Tuesday for Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Night. You can watch on ESPN+ or listen on the Devils Hockey Network. Puck drop is 7:38 p.m. ET.