After a historic preseason run in which the Lightning were one win away from an undefeated preseason slate, they have started the regular season by heading in the opposite direction. After a loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, the Lightning couldn’t find a way to win Saturday either falling to the Devils 5-3 to start the games that count 0-2.
The Lightning were out-shot by the Devils 27-17, getting just tow shots on goal in the first period, seven in the second period, and eight in the third. But it was the Devil’s 16 shots on goal in the first period that were the major difference as Andrei Vasilevskiy had his hands full, but performed well in allowing just five of 27 shots to go in.
New Jersey put the puck through the net first with 11:30 left on the clock as Timo Meier put the puck between the posts assisted by Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer.
They extended their lead with 9:43 left in the period as Connor Brown scored with assists from Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes to go up 2-0 on Tampa Bay.
With 6:12 left in the first period, Hischier put it between the posts on assists from Meier and Hughes.
The Lightning got on the board in the second period. With 12:29 left in the period, Yanni Gourde got the Lightning offense started with assists by Brayden Point and Max Crozier.
They cut the Devils’ lead to one when Ryan McDonagh scored with 2:37 remaining on assists by Brandon Hagel and Crozier to make it a 3-2 game.
As the third and final period got under way, New Jersey struck first in the period and quickly extended their lead to 4-2 after Jesper Bratt put one in solo.
Brown extended the Devils’ lead to 5-2 with 13:31 left in the match on a goal assisted by Gritsyuk and Simon Nemec.
The Lightning kept fighting as they scored their third goal with 3:43 left in the game. Darren Raddysh got one in with assists by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Gage Goncalves.
But the Lightning comeback attempt wasn’t enough as the Devils went on to defeat Tampa Bay 5-3 at Benchmark International Arena in game two of the regular season.
The Lightning will look to get back in the win column when they return to the ice on Monday afternoon with a matinee against the Boston Bruins in Boston. That game can be watched on NESN, The Spot, or the NHL Network.