(Photo via NHL.com)
By Michael Wax
Lightning win their 2nd game in a row, moving to 32-11-6.
The following players missed last night's game due to injury:
TBL: D Zach Bogosian
ARI: F Miles Wood, F Tyce Thompson, F Jesper Bratt, F Andreas Johnsson, D Dougie Hamilton, G Maxkenzie Blackwood, G Jonathan Bernier
Game Summary
1st Period
Erik Cernak returned for the first time in nine games following his injury, and his return did not go as expected. A defensive play that he was tracking well landed right onto his stick, where Jack Hughes tapped it home to give the Devils a 1-0 lead on an own-goal for Cernak and the Lightning.
Less than 40 seconds later, the Lightning responded with a goal of their own. PK Subban lost the puck for the Devils in their defensive zone, and good pressure from the Maroon-Bellemare-Perry line led to Maroon burying his eighth of the year.
The Lightning still struggled with defensive zone giveaways and bad breakouts, and took a penalty towards the end of the first period. On the PK, Victor Hedman flubbed a clearing attempt and Ygor Sharangovich gave the Devils the lead back.
2nd Period
The 2nd period was a continuation of the 1st at the beginning. A bad turnover by Cal Foote in the defensive zone led to a Jack Hughes opportunity, and indecisiveness from Mikhail Sergachev left Hughes alone to backhand the rebound home and give the Devils a double-digit lead.
From there, Jon Cooper got out the line blender and the Lightning went to work. Stamkos, Kucherov, and Point were assembled as the "Mega-Death" line, and got the Lightning to within one. After a faceoff win and a Rutta keep in at the blue line, Kucherov found Stamkos in the high slot and he fired a wrister right underneath the bar.
Less than a minute later, with sustained offensive pressure, Mikhail Sergachev dropped his man with a fancy move and fired a wrist shot, which Alex Killorn tipped in to tie the game at three.
3rd Period
By far the Lightning's best period, where they outshot the Devils 14-9 and didn't give away any dangerous chances. Victor Hedman got the Bolts their first lead of the game with a slap shot off the boards, his 11th of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Brayden Point found a streaking Nikita Kucherov, and he didn't miss.
Then, just over a minute after that, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare followed through on a huge Corey Perry chance and doubled up the score with his sixth of the season.
A big comeback win for the Lightning, and now they'll go on a week-long break as other teams make up their games.
Game Stats
TBL NJD
32 Shots on Goal 25
52.4 Face-off % 47.6
0/1 Power play 0/3
16 PIM 20
16 Hits 23
17 Blocks 9
7 Giveaways 15
Our Three Stars
1. Perry (TBL): 2 Assists
2. Sergachev (TBL): 1 Assist, 22:03 TOI
3. Mercer (NJD): 1 Goal, 2 Assists
Media's Three Stars
1. Hedman (TBL): 1 Goal, 1 Assist
2. Kucherov (TBL): 1 Goal, 1 Assist
3. Mercer (NJD): 1 Goal, 2 Assists
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