Tampa Bay Lightning Edge Out The New Jersey Devils In OT Thriller

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The Tampa Bay Lightning kicked off the final home stand of the regular season right with a thrilling OT win over the New Jersey Devils.

The Tampa Bay Lightning kicked off their final home stand of the regular season tonight at the Amalie Arena as they hosted the New Jersey Devils. It may have taken them a little over a minute into the overtime period, but the Tampa Bay Lightning would defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3.

Tonight’s win gives the Tampa Bay Lightning 106 points so far this season, which ties the franchise record. The Lightning could in fact break this record with a win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

When all of the action kicked off tonight, it did not start out the way that the Tampa Bay Lightning would have hoped. It was just over the five minute mark in the period, the Devils would make their first move.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mark Barberio would find himself in the box for 2 minutes for Holding Devils center Patrik Elias. This opened the door for the Devils to capitalize on their opportunity, and this is exactly what they did.

It would be Devils right wing Steve Bernier who would strike first blood and put the Devils on the board first. While this may have been concerning to the Tampa Bay Lightning, it would only be a concern for about one minute and twenty seconds. That is when Tyler Johnson would strike.

Johnson would take the puck into the zone and after a little bit of “Triplet Magic”, Johnson would easily beat Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid and tie the game up for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Just under three minutes later, the Lightning would show the Devils what happens when they are presented with an opportunity.

At 9:13 in the first period, defenseman Nikita Nesterov would score his second goal of the season as the final seconds of the Lightning’s Power Play ticked off of the clock. This would give the Lightning a one-goal lead heading into the first intermission.

In the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning would hold the Devils to a mere 3 shots on goal in comparison to the Lightning’s 8 shots. Unfortunately, the Devils would dominate the Lightning in the faceoff circle, which was made painfully apparent in the opening minutes of the first.

The Lightning may not have struck first blood, but they definitely opened the wound as the period went on. This is one of those traits that the Lightning will need to bring with them into the post season if they want to make a deep run this season.

In the opening minutes of the second period, the Devils would test Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop as Tuomo Ruutu took a blatant run at him, sending Bishop flying back into the goal post. Fortunately for Bishop, it was all in a day’s work and no one was injured. On the other hand, Ruutu found his way to the box for two minutes for Goaltender Interference.

Unfortunately, the Power Play would not run its full course as Nesterov would be sent off for two minutes for Tripping Devils center Stephen Gionta. This would negate the final forty seconds of the Lightning’s Power Play opportunity.

On the bright side, the Devils would not be able to capitalize on their attempt at the Power Play. On the not-so-bright side, the Devils were able to find their moment just after the halfway point in the second period. Elias would receive the pass from Gionta and quickly find their way past Bishop and into the back of the net.

This would tie the game up once again and put the Devils back on the map.

While the Devils did gain more ground in the second period on the Shots on Goal front, the Lightning still managed to outshoot them 15-10 giving the two teams a two period total of 23-13 (Lightning.)

Ben Bishop may have allowed three goals over the course of the first two periods, but he has also made some key saves that have kept the Lightning in this game. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the same thing can be said about Keith Kinkaid, and he has faced almost 10 more shots than Bishop has through two periods.

When these two teams would hit the ice for the third period of play there would be quite a bit of back and forth, but neither team was really able to make anything come from it. In fact, with a little over seven minutes left in the period, these two teams would be looking at 5-2 Shots on Goal led by the Devils.

The Tampa Bay Lightning has had six opportunities on the Power Play at this point in the game, having capitalized on two of those opportunities. On the other side of the ice, the Devils have only had two similar opportunities, having capitalized on one of them.

The Devils have had quite a bit of difficulty with their penalty kill as of late, which would lead one to believe that they would want to either find a way to fix their PK issue or at the very least find a way to keep themselves out of the box. Unfortunately for the Devils, they would not seem to learn this valuable lesson.

In just a matter of moments, the Devils would find themselves on the PK once again as Damon Severson would find himself heading to the box for Roughing Steven Stamkos. Thankfully for the Devils, the Lightning found themselves unable to convert on their opportunity.

Of course, this wouldn’t stop the Devils from giving the Lightning yet another crack at the Power Play with just over 17 seconds left in the period. The Lightning would once again find themselves unable to capitalize; however, the penalty would carry over into the overtime period.

The Devils really made a push in the final minutes of the third period. In fact, we’d be willing to say that a good portion of the last half of the third period was spent around the Lightning net. Both teams gave a valiant effort, but this game was simply not meant to end in regulation.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a clear advantage heading into the overtime period as the Devils’ penalty from the third still had quite a bit of time to play out. The Lightning would definitely use this to their advantage.

As the final moments of the Power Play were about to tick off the clock, Tyler Johnson would do what he does best and put the puck in the back of the net.

This not only marks the first time that the Lightning have topped the Devils this season, but as we mentioned before, this also brings the Lightning to 106 points this season which ties the current franchise record. Should the Lightning come out on top against the Bruins on Saturday, the Lightning could in fact set another record.

The Lightning definitely put on a strong offensive effort tonight. The Bolts outshot the Devils 31-24 tonight; however, the Devils would continue to own the faceoff circle going 29-22 in faceoff wins.

We don’t know about you, but we are rather pleased with the way that tonight turned out. While we always wish that a game could be finished off in regulation, we will take two points in just about any way we can get them; especially while our chance of Atlantic Division glory is still alive.

What was your favorite moment of tonight’s encounter? What do you think the Tampa Bay Lightning can take away from tonight’s game and use in their encounter on Saturday against the Bruins? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next up, the Tampa Bay Lightning swing open the doors to the Amalie Arena for the final time during the regular season to play host to captain Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Are you ready to Be The Thunder one final time in the regular season? We sure are!

Next: BBTB Round Table: Who Was The Lightning’s Best Acquisition This Season?

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