The Backcheck: Lightning take both games in Jersey

Two games. Two wins. Back to Tampa.
The Tampa Bay Lightning flew into New Jersey on Monday with a big test ahead of them. The Devils are a top team in the Eastern Conference and posed a measuring stick for the Bolts, who were still trying to fight their way out of the poor play that plagued them during a five-game losing streak just two weeks earlier.
Additionally, Tampa Bay has struggled on the road this season, so this was an opportunity for the Lightning to get things back on track. They did exactly that with a 4-1 win on Tuesday and a 4-3 win in the shootout on Thursday.

With plenty of friends and family in the crowd, New Jersey native Ross Colton scored the game-opening goal just 1:09 into the contest when Mikhail Sergachev fired a shot from the point that deflected off the knee of Colton and past Akira Schmid for his 16th goal of the season.
After going into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, the Lightning found themselves in a tie game when Tomas Tatar scored his 16th goal of the year at the 8:59 mark of the middle frame.
As the teams traded blows, either New Jersey or Tampa Bay was going to grab the momentum when Steven Stamkos was whistled for slashing and Erik Cernak was called for tripping, both at the 15:51 mark of the second, giving the Devils a 5-on-3 for a full, two minutes.
The Bolts penalty kill stepped up to the challenge, allowed just three shots on goal and made it out of the 5-on-3 unscathed. As for the momentum, the Lightning had it, and they capitalized on that in immediate fashion.
After Cernak and Stamkos exited the box, Cernak collected the puck in the defensive zone and skated all the way into the New Jersey end before recollecting the loose puck behind the Devils net and banking a pass off the boards for Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

Bellemare then made a beautiful, backhand saucer pass to Stamkos, who was open in the slot and ripped home his 28th goal of the year into the top right corner just 20 seconds after his penalty expired.
Taking the 2-1 lead into the third period, the Lightning found themselves in a tie game once again when Timo Meier scored with 10:19 remaining in regulation.
With Jonas Siegenthaler in the penalty box for interference, the Bolts regained the lead at the 15:13 mark of the third. When Nikita Kucherov sent a crafty backhand pass up to the point for Sergachev, he put the puck on a platter for Stamkos, who rifled home his patented one-timer to the far post to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead with 4:47 remaining.
After missing the previous game with a lower-body injury, Stamkos looked terrific on Thursday night with two goals and an assist. Not only did he look better, but he felt much better as well.
"I probably forced that game against Winnipeg the other night," Stamkos said. "I probably should've sat that one out.
"It's that time of the year where obviously if it's a playoff game, you want to battle through some things, but you want to be feeling as good as you can coming down the stretch.
"I think it was probably the smart decision not to play the other night. Get a couple treatment days and an off day, then skate yesterday. I felt 10 times better tonight than I did against Winnipeg the other night, so it was well worth it."
As Tampa Bay looked to close out the game, Nick Paul was sent to the penalty box for tripping and New Jersey pulled Schmid for a 6-on-4 advantage before Meier buried his second goal of the night to force overtime.
After no goals were scored in the extra frame, Ross Colton and Alex Killorn found twine in the shootout and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped two-of-three shots to earn the second point for the Lightning.
"We knew coming into this kind of back-to-back almost here, we were playing a really good team and it was going to be a good test," Stamkos said. "We wanted to see where we were against a team that's having a great year.
"Two in their home rink. We hadn't been playing very well on the road. We could feel our game getting a little better over the course of the last week and a half here.
"Those two games were, I think, a byproduct of us playing the way we want to coming down the stretch and into the playoffs."

Somehow, there are only 13 games left in the regular season. Tampa Bay will play back-to-back games for the fourth consecutive weekend when they battle the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday and New Jersey, again, on Sunday.
With the playoffs right around the corner, the Bolts are starting to find their game, but they know they can't rest on their laurels following two big wins.
"We can't just sit here and say, 'Well, we took two in New Jersey,' and then go home and think our problems are all solved," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "No, we've got to build off what we've done here and then continue this on when we go back."
Following a 9-5 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday, Montreal will certainly have some motivation coming into AMALIE Arena on Saturday night. New Jersey will surely be looking to get a win out of the season series as well on Sunday. The Lightning will have to keep making those strides in the right direction as the postseason gets closer.
"The guys have really stepped up the last week," said Stamkos. "We're starting to get the results. We're playing the way we want to play heading into the final stretch of the season. We kind of got away from it there for a little bit."