Only one night after potting seven goals against the Montreal Canadiens, the Tampa Bay Lightning struggled to generate offense and ultimately fell to the New Jersey Devils by a score of 2-1. Thanks to some great play from Cory Schneider and their entire defense corps, the Devils were able to secure their third victory of the season. Tampa's loss, their first in regulation this year, moves their record to 2-1-1.
Looking to build on their performance from one night earlier, the Bolts came out flying on Tuesday. For the first half of the first period, they looked just like the team that smashed the Canadiens in dominant fashion. Unlike on Monday, however, it didn’t last. The Devils turned the tables and took control of the game in the second half of that opening stanza.
Unable to capitalize on their early opportunities, Tampa battled through that scoreless first period and into the second. Unfortunately, it was the Devils who opened the scoring. Following up on his own rebound after a phenomenal save from Evgeni Nabokov, Travis Zajac tucked the puck into the net for his first of the season at the 7:38 mark of the second.
A one-goal deficit with time left on the clock isn’t a terrible thing when dealing with most NHL teams. But the Devils aren’t just any old NHL team. This is an elite defensive squad with a system that works. After getting up 1-0, New Jersey locked things down. The Lightning’s attack? It was non-existent. Steven Stamkos? His speed was rendered useless. The Devils’s offensive outburst to start the year has earned them a lot of attention, but it was their defensive prowess that got the job done against the Lightning. Give them oodles of credit for that.
I’ll be completely honest when I say that I expected the Devils to nurse their 1-0 lead home. It came as quite a shock to me when Alex Killorn scored his first of the campaign midway through the third period to knot things up at one. Assisted beautifully by Tyler Johnson, Killorn was just barely able to get the puck past Schneider.
Big Mo’ was back on the Lightning’s side… for a moment. The ice tilted back in New Jersey’s direction when Steven Stamkos took an ill-advised penalty just moments later. Mike Cammalleri capitalized to give the Devils a 2-1 lead, and you just knew they weren’t letting that one slip away. As done before, they locked things down and coasted towards the finish line. The Lightning’s offense? It was quiet once again. The Devils executed their game plan flawlessly.
One regulation loss isn’t the end of the world; this team wasn’t going to go 81-0-1 this year. The Bolts can take solace in the fact that their backup goaltender looked phenomenal, and that they now have a few days to regroup and rest up before their next game.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.