By Michael Wax
The Lightning bounced back hugely, putting up eight goals and outscoring the Devils 5-1 in the second on the way to an 8-5 win over New Jersey.
Here are three things we saw from the loss:
New Jersey Bagels
After New Jersey took a 2-1 lead less than a minute into the second period, the new and improved second line of Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and Connor Geekie cracked their knuckles and got to work.
Halfway through the period, the game was tied, but thanks to a goal from newly minted captain Victor Hedman, the second line found itself in the offensive zone. Hagel received the puck at the top of the zone near the blue line, skated a little to his left, and unleashed a howitzer of a shot tipped in front by a New Jersey Devils defenseman and found its way past Jake Allen.
Just a few minutes later, that same second line found themselves in transition as Cirelli got the puck over to Geekie. With Geekie and Hagel in a 2-on-1, the 20-year-old rookie passed it right over to Hagel, and Hagel deposited it for the two goal lead and the first point of Geekie's career.
Hagel would pick up his hat trick goal just a few minutes later, thanks to a very nice offensive charge from a Emil Lilleberg that put a shot on net, created a rebound, and got Allen out of position.
Hagel also put up an assist on Victor Hedman’s second goal of the game and the Lightning’s fifth goal of the second period.
Overall, the trio combined for nine points and was very easily the best forward line for the Lightning all night.
Ayo JoJo
Jonas Johansson saw his first 2024-25 game action last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, stopping 14/15 shots. He was trusted once again with the net in this one against a high-powered NJ team. Johansson responded with a very solid performance, stopping 30 shots from the Devils in the win.
How Johansson was going to look was a major question mark. After playing the majority of the preseason, it took until game six of the regular season for the back up netminder to get his first start of the season, coming off an appearance in relief yesterday, no less. Johansson remained steady even though he allowed five goals, bailing the Lightning out early with a couple of key stops.
Johansson got a much better effort in front of him than Vasilevskiy did last night against the Leafs. But you have to make the saves on the shots that you do face, and Johansson was able to do that pretty easily.
Man Up vs. Man Down
Once again, the Lightning’s special teams were interesting and inconsistent to say the least.
The power play went perfect, going two or two, while the penalty kill allowed two goals on three opportunities for the Devils.
The first power-play goal for the Lightning came in the first period, where Brayden Point took an initial one timer from Anthony Cirelli, gloved it down, and beat Allen through the five hole to get the Lightning tied up at one.
In the third period, with the Devils closing in and creating a 6-4 game, a penalty gave the Lightning a man advantage. Just two seconds into the power play, Jake Guentzel found a loose puck and wired a shot over the arm of Allen to get the Lightning their seventh goal of the game.
On the contrary, the penalty kill had a very difficult game. Goals against don’t do justice to how poor the defense in front of Jonas Johansson was, as the clears the Lightning attempted throughout all three penalty kills were not ideal.
In saying this, the Bolts actually got on the board while shorthanded as well. Nick Paul would win a neutral zone face off to get the puck back to J.J. Moser, and Moser clear hit the boards in a weird way and caught Allen out of the devil’s net to get the lightning 8-4 lead.
Again, the penalty should bounce back to its normal self after some adjusting. But it was nice to see the Lightning get on the board multiple times from the power play as well.
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