In Newark, Tampa’s Brandon Hagel‘s second period goal snapped a 1-1 tie with the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night en route to a 4-1 win for the Lightning.
Hagel had two assists on the night.
“Obviously I’m playing with some Hall of Fame players with [Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov]; everyone knows those names,” Hagel said. “When you get those guys the puck, good things are going to happen, so a lot of credit to those guys. I just try and go out there and be the hardest-working guy on the ice.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in the win.
“Point and Kucherov can make plays with the best of them, and Hagel is a worker-bee,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “He just goes, goes, goes, and you’re seeing the offensive side of his game really blossom here with those two guys. He’s really taken a step.”
The Lightning improved to 40-22-6.
Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov also scored in the middle frame for the 4-1 final.
“I looked up and I think [Kucherov] had the puck on the blue line with five seconds left and Point is a big part of that too,” Cooper said. “Kucherov can finish in those areas, but probably the one that popped the balloon was definitely that fourth one.”
Tampa scored three goals on just seven shots in the second period.
“We have to use this game as a lesson,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “We have to take a little bit of what they did. They didn’t break down when it was 1-0. They didn’t give us 2-on-1s … we handed them some Grade-A opportunities. They were waiting on us to make a mistake.”
New Jersey took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a marker from Damon Severson .
“We didn’t play our best,” New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. “It’s not acceptable, but we know that. We play them again Thursday and will try to prove that we can play better hockey.”
Anthony Cirelli tied the game, 1-1, in the first off a shorthanded goal.
“That was all [Hagel], he made an unbelievable play, skating it all the way down the ice, faking it and dishing over to me,” Cirelli said. “I just had a little move there and, fortunately, it went in, but that was all [Hagel].”
New Jersey dropped to 44-17-6.
Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves in the loss.
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