Hagel has 3 points, Lightning gain in Atlantic with win against Devils

NEWARK, N.J. -- Brandon Hagel had a goal and two assists for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-1 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the Lightning (40-22-6), who have won three of their past five games (3-1-1) to pull within two points of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second in the Atlantic Division.
Hagel was moved to the top line with center Brayden Point and right wing Nikita Kucherov after captain Steven Stamkos was ruled out with a lower-body injury prior to the game.
"Point and Kucherov can make plays with the best of them, and Hagel is a worker-bee," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "He just goes, goes, goes, and you're seeing the offensive side of his game really blossom here with those two guys. He's really taken a step."

Damon Severson scored, and Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves for the Devils (44-17-6), who had won three in a row and seven of nine. They fell two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division after Carolina defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Tuesday.
It was the first of three games between the teams in a span of six days. The Devils host the Lightning on Thursday and play at Tampa Bay on Sunday.
"We didn't play our best," New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. "It's not acceptable, but we know that. We play them again Thursday and will try to prove that we can play better hockey."
Severson gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 5:55 of the first period on a rebound at the bottom of the right face-off circle after Timo Meier took the initial shot from the high slot. Jack Hughes had an assist for his 80th point of the season.
"We have to use this game as a lesson," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "We have to take a little bit of what they did. They didn't break down when it was 1-0. They didn't give us 2-on-1s ... we handed them some Grade-A opportunities. They were waiting on us to make a mistake."
The Devils thought they widened the margin at 11:28 after Ryan Graves scored on a shot from the left point. The Lightning challenged and the play was overturned when it was ruled Tomas Tatar impaired Vasilevskiy's ability to play his position in the crease.
Anthony Cirelli then scored short-handed for the second straight game to tie it 1-1 at 16:17 on a backhand off a 2-on-1 with Hagel.
"That was all [Hagel], he made an unbelievable play, skating it all the way down the ice, faking it and dishing over to me," Cirelli said. "I just had a little move there and, fortunately, it went in, but that was all [Hagel]."

The Lightning scored three goals on seven shots in the second period.
Hagel made it 2-1 on a snap shot from the left face-off circle at 8:52, and Alex Killorn pushed it to 3-1 on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 13:55 when he beat Vanecek to the short side.
"Obviously I'm playing with some Hall of Fame players with [Point and Kucherov]; everyone knows those names," Hagel said. "When you get those guys the puck, good things are going to happen, so a lot of credit to those guys. I just try and go out there and be the hardest-working guy on the ice."
Kucherov extended the lead to 4-1 on a backhand at the right post with 0.8 seconds remaining in the second.
"I looked up and I think [Kucherov] had the puck on the blue line with five seconds left and Point is a big part of that too," Cooper said. "Kucherov can finish in those areas, but probably the one that popped the balloon was definitely that fourth one."
NOTES: Cooper said Stamkos is day to day. ... Kucherov has a point in 11 of the past 14 games against the Devils (eight goals, 14 assists). ... Devils forward Miles Wood sustained an undisclosed injury late in the second period and did not return. Ruff had no update after the game. ... Forward Ondrej Palat had one shot in 16:02 of ice time against his former team for the first time since he signed a five-year contract with the Devils on July 14. ... Cirelli is the second player in Lightning history with a short-handed goal in consecutive games (Stamkos, April 4-6, 2019). … Forward Curtis Lazar had three hits in 10:07 of ice time in his Devils debut after being acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on March 3. … Hughes (37 goals, 43 assists) is the fifth United States-born player to reach 80 points in a season at age 21 or younger, joining Jimmy Carson (107 in 1987-88; 100 in 1988-89), Bobby Carpenter (95 in 1984-85), Jeremy Roenick (94 in 1990-91) and Patrick Kane (88 in 2009-10).