It feels good to be home. The New Jersey Devils would not be beat on their home ice, while delivering their fans their first playoff experience since 2012.
Taylor Hall had a three-point night (1g-2a), and two-empty net goals helped the Devils take Game 3 of the best-of-seven series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-2 on Monday night. The Devils cut the Lightning's series lead to 2-1. Here are 10 takeaways from Game Three: 1. There were several lineup changes made by Coach John Hynes headed into Game 3. Cory Schneider started the game in place of Keith Kinkaid, while Marcus Johansson returned to the Devils lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion on since Jan. 23. Drew Stafford also played his first game of the postseason, replacing Michael Grabner on the fourth line.
In his first start of the post-season, Schneider made 34 saves on 36 shots in the victory. Tweet from @NJDevils: CO-RY ���� CO-RY ���� CO-RY ���� #TBLvsNJD | #NowWeRise pic.twitter.com/dshxMZhnCs 3. In his return, Johansson played on a line with Pavel Zacha and Pat Maroon. He clocked in at 14:30 of ice time and took two shots on net. He also played 5:11 on the power play. Tweet from @NJviDs: #APR16 #TBLvsNJD #GAME3 1ST PERIODMojo sequence pic.twitter.com/j9csvTHCcX 4. After one period of play ,the Devils and Lightning were scoreless. It was the first time in the series that the first period was without an opening goal. After 20 minutes of play, Blake Coleman led all Devils with three shots on goal in 4:54 of ice time. Sami Vatanen led all skaters on both teams, with 9:09 TOI, while Travis Zajac led the Devils in faceoff percentage, going 6-1 for an 86 percent efficiency. 5. The Lightning once again opened the scoring of the game. This time in the second period. The Devils gave up a power play goal just :42 into the second frame to fall behind 1-0. 6. Coleman nearly scored the Devils opening goal at during the second period. He skated hard to the crease, one-on-one with Tampa defender Victor Hedman, and just before the puck crossed the goal line, the net came off its moorings and it was ruled as 'no goal.' Tweet from @NJviDs: #APR16 #TBLvsNJD #GAME3 2ND PERIODGreat effort by @BColes25 here, but the net was off the moorings before the puck was put in ... pic.twitter.com/ub9u0Qozl9 7. Big name players show up in big game situations, and that's what Taylor Hall did on Monday night. Hall scored the Devils tying goal at 12:24 of the second period. Hall scored off a rebound from the high slot, his second unassisted goal of the series. What made the Hall goal so special, despite just tying the game, was his celebration afterwards. Tweet from @NJDevils: Hall Rise. #TBLvsNJD | #NowWeRise pic.twitter.com/3O3HW1aTYB 8. The Devils and Lightning were tied after 40 minutes of play for the first time this series. The two teams traded goals in the second period for a 1-1 score line heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation. 9. Will Butcher came through on the Devils power play at 4:03 of the third period to tie the game at 2-2. Butcher fired a rocket from the point that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy, top-shelf. The goal was Butchers first-career playoff goal.
