The New Jersey Devils were in Tampa Bay on Saturday night to take on the Lightning and, for the fourth time in their last five games, they came out on the losing end.
The Good
- After missing a month of action with a knee injury Cory Schneider made his return to the lineup against a good Lightning team and showed no sign of rust. Schneider stopped 33-35 shots and, really, was the only reason the Devils had a chance of pulling out a win.
- Kyle Palmieri had a game-high five scoring chances and nine shot attempts. He only recorded two shots on goal and had nothing to show for his efforts, however, if he continues to get good looks they'll start to go. With the games no longer holding meaning it's probably a good thing that Palmieri is playing well but not getting results. It helps their draft positioning, and might prevent him from getting an extra chunk of cash on his next contract; although it will probably be fairly significant regardless.
- Joseph Blandisi was one of two Devils to finish positive in possession at full-strength despite having zero offensive zone starts. He took a couple penalties, which needs to be cleaned up, but otherwise had a pretty good night.
- There are only three games left in the season.
The Bad
- The Devils were out shot 36-26 and out chanced 34-18 (16-7 in terms of high-danger looks). Even with Schneider between the pipes the Devils are rarely going to win games when they are dominated to that extent.
- They gave the Lightning seven power plays. They were only burnt once but, again, that's not exactly a recipe for success.
- The Devils scored just once on six power plays. They had no shortage of shots and chances on said power plays but they need to convert on their opportunities; especially when they struggle so mightily to score at full-strength.
Stat Of The Game
Tampa Bay out chanced New Jersey 20-4 in the 3rd period.
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