[Recap/Boxscore](https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/2022021065)
###Boxscore
|Teams|1st|2nd|3rd|Total|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|1|3|0|4|
|[](/r/devils)|1|0|0|1|
###Team Stats
|Team|Shots|Hits|Blocked|FO Wins|Giveaways|Takeaways|Power Plays|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|30|12|19|40.4%|10|8|0/2|
|[](/r/devils)|23|13|16|59.6%|10|8|0/2|
###Goal Summary
|Period|Time|Team|Strength|Description|
|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|2nd|19:59|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|Even|Nikita Kucherov (27) Backhand, assists: Brayden Point (37), Ian Cole (13)|
|2nd|13:55|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|Even|Alex Killorn (21) Snap Shot, assists: Brandon Hagel (32)|
|2nd|08:52|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|Even|Brandon Hagel (24) Snap Shot, assists: Mikhail Sergachev (42)|
|1st|16:17|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|Short Handed|Anthony Cirelli (11) Backhand, assists: Brandon Hagel (31), Erik Cernak (11)|
|1st|05:55|[](/r/devils)|Even|Damon Severson (6) Snap Shot, assists: Timo Meier (22), Jack Hughes (43)|
###Penalty Summary
|Period|Time|Team|Type|Min|Description|
|:–:|:–:|:-:|:–:|:–:|:–:|
|3rd|00:22|[](/r/devils)|Minor|2|Ryan Graves Tripping against Pat Maroon|
|2nd|02:46|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|Minor|2|Victor Hedman Tripping against Jesper Boqvist|
|1st|18:20|[](/r/devils)|Minor|2|John Marino Slashing against Nikita Kucherov|
|1st|15:37|[](/r/tampabaylightning)|Minor|2|Ian Cole Tripping against Jack Hughes|
by HockeyMod
27 Comments
Yikes the hot takes are in full force tonight.
VV is in a bit of a slump but also none of those goals were softies.
We played a pissed off Tampa team who won the cup twice in the last 3 years.
The team hasn’t practiced more than once in a month.
We go up 2-0 it’s a whole different game. We score on the 3 posts we hit we win this game.
Very unlucky and against a good and pissed team.
We’re still handidly 3rd in the league. Can we stop with the hot takes now?
This team lost the game 30 minutes into the game, one bad thing happens and its like they cant play hockey anymore. That can’t happen if we want playoff success.
I’m not too worried about tonight. Of course want to win and hopefully take 1st in the metro, but felt like calls didn’t go our way and PP1 couldn’t get a good zone entry. Larger concern is still goaltending, I’m fully aware that vitek isn’t bad at all, but that’s gotta be at least the 10th time this season we’ve lost while leading in xG. At this point it really feels like goaltender is our weakness headed into the playoffs that I’d like to see improved headed into next season
Edit: when I say weakness, I mean that our forward group and defense seem good to elite, while our goaltending feels average to good. Don’t mean to be harsh
That game blew. Would love to see Schmid on Thursday. Hopefully the Devils bounce back because this… well I’m going to be doing my best to forgot about it.
Fuck sakes
That was immensely frustrating… on to the next one
Those fucks in the War Room certainly have a hard on when it come to disallowing Devils goals.
Very clearly not our best game, but here are my thoughts regardless:
* I was really hoping Vitek would take Sunday’s win and put together a string of good games, but this was not it. I don’t know if all of the goals were on him, but at least a couple of them were and a couple of them were on breakdowns from the men that are meant to defend in front of him. I think you put in Akira on Thursday.
* PP1 really killed any momentum that we had going our way both times we got the power play. I know its because Timo is new personnel and he’s only had one real non pre-game practice, but that needs to be fixed ASAP.
* Lazar looked great. If Woody’s out, I’d be fine with keeping Lazar in and bringing back Shango especially if Nate needs some more time to recover from whatever has him banged up.
* It seemed to me that the boys just didn’t know how to respond after the second goal was taken back and after they gave up a shorty. We didn’t look good after that happened.
* However, the moments when we were playing well, each line looked real solid. I’m happy to roll these lines moving forward. Third line has finally found its groove and you can tell Jack’s line is truly getting better with every shift. Even the fourth line didn’t seem as pinned into their zone as they usually do.
* We have to remember, the boys have an immense schedule right now. Not only in who we play but the amount of games we play. Its been two weeks in March and we’ve played eight games, thats playing a game more than half of the days.
* You obviously want them to take the big emotional win from Sunday and run away with it, but I can also see them being tired and thats why this very blah game happened.
* PK was solid again.
* I want everyone to remember that since January we have like the first or second best record in the NHL, like we’re right up there with Boston in terms of points collected in 2023.
* Yeah, we wanted to win to keep pace with Carolina or even overpower them, but there’s still plenty of time in March to do both.
* Shake it off. Come back Thursday. Show them you’ve learned something and show them this Devils team can respond.
I’mma go air fry some mozzarella sticks and watch some brainless reality TV now. Night!
Tampa despite the score is not all that impressive anymore.
friendly tampa fan coming to say that while that was clearly a rough game, new jersey has the most potential out of any team in the NHL right now and if they can maneuver the salary cap and make a couple key additions I will be very surprised if they don’t go on multiple deep cup runs in the next few years, respect
Worst game of recent memory. Absolutely deflated after the disallowed goal.
Lindy please practice tomorrow, the boys need to get their shit together. Even if it’s a light practice with minimal contact, just please skate through motions.
Damn
Was that a BS call? Probably
Was that a disappointing game? Most likely
Did we go down without a fight? Hell no
While we did indeed lose, we didn’t get shut out. Aside from the Leafs, what other team in the league can say that this season?
I think VV needs some rest. The timing makes it sound harsh, which yes I guess it is a “punishment” but we have Schmid who can win games.
V has already tied his career highest starts, and we’ve been riding him a lot. He’s deserved it, he’s played strong this year and we have a stack of Ws to show for it. Give him a few games. He still has it, and he’ll be great come playoffs. I have faith, and I know we can win with Schmid.
That wouldn’t solve everything tonight obviously. I think the leadership group needs to look at this mental collapse. I feel like as soon as the goal was overturned the intensity left the bench with it. Then it’s a snowball effect.
Tonight sucked but… The Devils have been a top 5 team all year. The Carolina win wasn’t “false hope” or any bullshit like that because we’ve been beating contenders all year with and without all our flaws. This might be a shock but no team is perfect. We are really good. Reset and shove for 60 minutes Thursday.
I wish I stopped watching 8 minutes into the first
Really happy with the identity that’s formed on the 1st and 3rd lines.
I think the 2nd line, and Hughes specifically, has been struggling lately because they need to learn to take whats given sometimes. They’ve put up points even while being stifled out of the sheer skill on the line but are being neutralized by the league adjusting to how they play them. Just think of all the times tonight you saw Hughes get a clean zone entry, be forced to the outside, and take a low danger shot that resulted in a whistle or turnover.
I also think PP1 should try shuffling the positions up on the formation. Dougie as the lone D-Man makes it look like a 5forward unit sometimes and the guys playing up high with him aren’t defensively responsible enough to make up for his weaknesses.
What can I say about a loss?
This game provided a lot of detailed intel on how to approach an obvious, potential playoff rival. The key will be what adjustments Lindy makes for Thursday.
I thought Timo and Lazar slotted in well considering how both have not had any real formal practices together, and with their new team.
Some Tampa fans are livid *(LOL, considering what was done to Vats by Kuch, yeah, get fucked)* over the Timo hit, which means it’s one of the best of the season.
To all who complain about what they call ‘negative posts’ tonoght despite the fact that the Devils have the third most points in the NHL…
Complain when the Devils overall play well and get goalied or weird puck luck and, therefore, lose? No.
Point out that the Devils are playing really poorly in a game when they actually are playing really poorly? Totally fair.
Ruff in post-game: “..their compete was better than ours… We got out-competed.” He also put the goals against on Devils’ mistakes. Also said that they set out this year to eliminate the dumb mistakes that gift opponents high-danger chances, but said the Devils fell back into that tonight.
That is not negative. That is just…what happened in this particular game.
First game i went to ALL SEASON. I watch EVERY game and have done so since 2005. I won’t be going to another regular szn game. Only playoffs. Worst luck for me
That was one of the worst games I’ve been to. It was roughhhhh.
I think it’s rude as hell that Reddit only just now sent me a notification that a post was made yesterday for “Vanacek snaps back”
It sucks for everyone there they lost, but we get to see how they bounce back in a series with a good team.
Is this like the 5th bad game this season? Not every night is your night. Move on.
They need to remove the penalty for an unsuccessful challenge. If they don’t know they also give a penalty there, they call it a good goal.
On the bright side no one will remember this loss in the wake of the Penguins and Bruins embarassing themselves tonight
Well, i went to bed when we made it 2-0 after what was one hell of a domination to start the game…. So this is quite upsetting to wake up to
Good practice with a simulation of how the playoffs would go.
How do we adjust and be better. Excited to see.