If the Devils had any hope of competing with the Lightning, they would have needed to avoid getting demolished on special teams. That didn’t happen and the Lightning cruised to a 5-1 victory last night. The Lightning scored two power plays goals while the Devils went zero-for-four with the man advantage. The lopsided result was equal parts Tampa Bay excellence and New Jersey incompetence.

The penalty kill is the area where the Lightning have seen the most dramatic improvement, rising from a pitiful 28th ranking in 2017-18 to an impressive 9th this season. There were two aspects to their penalty kill’s success against New Jersey: The Lightning exceled at channeling their speed to jump passes, eclipse shooting lanes, and disrupt entries—and New Jersey imploded.

To put some numbers to the Lightning’s dominance on the penalty kill, I’ve created two categories for how the Devils failed on their first three power plays. The first is the unforced error. The Devils had six different instances on their first three power plays – when the game was still competitive – where their players committed a turnover and misfired on a pass to a teammate without excessive pressure. This sloppy play nearly cost them at the end of the first period when they were down 1-0, as a drop pass from Will Butcher to Kyle Palmieri went awry and resulted in Anthony Cirelli whistling a shot over the crossbar.

The second category is improved speed and intuition. Tampa Bay had five significant plays on the penalty kill, four of which occurred in the Lightning defensive zone, where the penalty killer read the play and foiled it. (As an aside, Cirelli also won multiple faceoffs that led to the Lightning defenseman clearing the zone, which is a marked change from last year from both the forward and defenseman perspective.)

From a strategic standpoint, there was a sequence on the first power play for the Devils when the game was still 0-0 that would leave an indelible mark. With 1:20 left with the man advantage, Taylor Hall tried to attack from below the dot. Devils teammate Brian Boyle screened Louis Domingue and danger was lurking. But Ryan McDonagh, in a crouch with legs astride, led with his stick and thwarted Hall’s crawl toward the net, allowing Alex Killorn to carry the puck from the zone.

This play by McDonagh was important because New Jersey didn’t test the Lightning below the dots again. The Devils abandoned their deliberate effort to test the Lightning penalty kill in the lower slot. No attempt at the jam play. No effort to use the net-front presence as a playmaker on the goal line. The closest they came was whipping shots into Domingue’s chest from the top of the circle, and Marcus Johansson had a rebound opportunity off a shot attempt where he was the screener.

Tampa Bay, in the diamond formation, had a defenseman stepping up very aggressively to shooters at the circle and there was space underneath to attack. If the Lightning are at a one-man disadvantage, and they are leaving that area unchecked and keeping the puck above the low slot, it becomes a four-on-four. That is how pucks get intercepted and shots are blocked. A predictable power play is easily dispelled.

The Devils were sloppy and myopic in other respects too. When the game was still competitive, the Devils were set to get another power play because of a Steven Stamkos penalty. But Miles Wood’s irascible outburst resulted in him punching Yanni Gourde, which forced a four-on-four instead.

On the power play, the Lightning succeeded partially because of the Devils’ ineptitude and also because of Tampa Bay’s speed. On the goal by Point in the final minute of the first period, the speed with which he corralled and walloped that saucer pass from Kucherov in the slot was outstanding. Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid didn’t have a chance. Of all teams, New Jersey should know that Point needs someone on his hip pocket at all times. Point had too much room—even though he and Nikita Kucherov are the most dangerous options on the power play.



That shouldn’t be a controversial statement. Point has three times as many goals on the man advantage as Steven Stamkos, so there really isn’t much debate. Point and Kucherov are the Lightning’s best power-play players in the present and future. And keep in mind, Point hasn’t played on the first power-play unit for most of the season! His numbers could be much higher.

Of course, Stamkos did notch a power-play goal in this contest. Pavel Zacha’s whiff on Point’s blind pass through the middle of the ice was almost sad, like watching a golfer miss a tap-in putt. It was a weird game with the Devils seeming to have Swiss cheese holes in their blades. On the Gourde goal, Ben Lovejoy seemed to put the puck right on Hall’s stick, and yet the puck clearly missed, precipitating an outstanding tic-tac-toe passing play that Gourde finished.

The Devils are maybe the worst team in the NHL, and the Lightning may be the best of the 31. But laying the smackdown has value as the Point-Kucherov duo's chemistry continues to crackle and the Lightning’s special teams soar. The Lightning won’t draw the Devils in the first-round of the postseason again, but this doesn’t mean they can’t glean knowledge from beating up on the weak and helpless.

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