Lightning 6, Devils 3: More of the same

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A few thoughts following Tampa Bay’s 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Rinse, repeat

The Devils didn’t play half bad last night. In fact, they played quite well. They controlled large stretches of play against one of the best teams in the NHL.

New Jersey did so without several key players – most notably Dougie Hamilton and Jesper Bratt – while the Lightning were at full health; Zach Bogosian (oh no!) was the only player missing.

For much of the night, this game seemed poised to be one of New Jersey’s most impressive showings of the season. Then everything fell apart.

One mistake quickly led to another and, just like that, a 3-1 lead evaporated. The Devils, nor their starting goaltender, were able to put the drastic turn of events past them until the game was out of reach. Understandable considering even the best performances from Devils skaters end up in defeat due to horrendous goaltending.

All told, they played as well as you could realistically hope considering the opponent. The Devils won the shot attempt battle (56-49), the scoring chance battle (36-23), and the expected goal battle (3.16-2.55). They were the better team and it didn’t matter, which is quickly becoming the norm.

I’m not saying the Devils were perfect by any means. They made plenty of mistakes. But guess what? So did the Lightning! The difference is Andrei Vasilevskiy did what he was supposed to do (3GA on 3.12 xGA) while the Devils’ goaltenders didn’t (6GA on 2.55 xGA). It really is as simple as that; we don’t need to pretend otherwise.

For every turnover Ty Smith or P.K. Subban made, players like Victor Hedman(!) matched it at the other end. It just so happened each error ended up in New Jersey’s net.