Lowry won the game's opening face-off, and from that point on, his line with Mason Appleton and Morgan Barron went to work. They finished the night with a slight edge in high-danger chances at five-on-five (3-2, according to Natural Stat Trick), and their line helped produce the eventual game-winner from Barron - including an Appleton assist.
"They had a tough assignment (Saturday) night with Barkov, and then again (Sunday) they had to put a lot of miles on it. And they did a fantastic job," said Arniel. "There's a lot of good skill on that team in Tampa as we know. You know, they did what they needed to do and that was to be at their best. They got a lot of opportunities off it as well."
Appleton had a breakaway chance late in the third and drew the first penalty of the game as he was taken down by Ross Colton 34 seconds into the second period, preventing the Jets forward from scoring on a rebound. The Jets would end up scoring on that power play 27 seconds later.
Even with that, and Lowry's 57 percent success rate in the face-off dot, Barron isn't sure the trio could call the game against Tampa their best of the season.
"I think there's still a little more we can do," said Barron. "We created some chances and we held the zone defensively. They're a good team so they're going to create some chances. Honestly, I have a tough time evaluating until I watch the game over, but I think we're happy with it."
Monday is an off day for the Jets, who have visions of making this three-game road trip a perfect one. They'll need to once again be at their best in order to succeed against the Metropolitan Division leading Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
A day away from the rink will be important for recovery. Every player, no matter what team, is carrying bumps and bruises from a tough season at this point.
Lowry will no doubt use the day to be ready for the Hurricanes. The Jets hope that Josh Morrissey - who didn't play against Tampa Bay due to a lower-body injury of his own from the Panthers game - might be available for that road trip finale.
"Our schedule doesn't get easier in the next two games, two really good teams Carolina and Boston coming up," said Barron. "That's a big start for us. We know we have to start winning on the road. Take these two wins and hopefully get a third there on Tuesday."
MORRISSEY'S MINUTES
Any update on Josh Morrissey's availability for the game against Carolina won't come until Tuesday's morning skate, at the earliest.
When he missed his first game of the season against Tampa Bay, someone had to come in and fill the 23:59 Morrissey plays every night.
Dylan Samberg came in on a pairing with Dylan DeMelo, and played 17:14 - which is 3:24 short of his season-high 20:38 - but was incredibly effective.
Samberg and DeMelo held a 72 percent share of the expected goals at five-on-five, and the shot attempt share was also in the Jets favour with that pair on the ice.
The duo of Neal Pionk and Brenden Dillon (with 23:45 and 21:23 of ice time respectively) handled the majority of the workload against the Lightning, but Arniel was thrilled with what he saw from all his defencemen - including Nate Schmidt's goal and Logan Stanley's four hits.
"We had to use everybody. With back-to-back games, where Josh can log some big minutes, everybody had to be a part of it," he said. "I know there were a lot of crazy situations that were going on at times. They kept their head. I liked the way we moved the puck up. We were quick and we didn't allow extended times in our end of the rink.
"I'm real proud of the guys."
