The New Jersey Devils own one of the NHL’s top power plays, but recent struggles on the man advantage are coinciding with one of their worst stretches in a season that had been full of positives.
After spending two weeks on the road, the Devils hope to get their power play going again Saturday night when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning in Newark, N.J.
The Devils are converting 28 percent of their power plays (35 of 125) through their first 44 games, behind only the Winnipeg Jets (32 percent) for the top spot in the NHL. Since scoring three power-play goals in a 5-0 rout of the New York Rangers on Dec. 23, New Jersey has gone 1-for-16 and is 2-4-1 in those games.
The Devils went 0-for-4 on their power plays in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers, and it marked the fifth time they did not score when getting at least four opportunities. The Devils took four shots on the man advantage while getting even-strength goals from Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt in the second period.
“I think it’s a good point for us,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “There’s things we’d like to do better, plays we’d like to have back, but by and large we did some good things in the game. Obviously, special teams are a major factor in the game. They make a big difference. You can include overtime in that. But all things considered, it’s a good point for our team.”
Before their seven-game slump, the Devils were 4-for-13 on the man advantage while going 5-1-0.
The Lightning rolled to a 4-0 rout of the Devils on home ice on Nov. 16 when they held New Jersey scoreless on four power plays. Tampa Bay has gone 13-9-1 since the previous meeting and is visiting the Devils after earning consecutive home wins over the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins.
Brayden Point scored a power-play goal in the final minute of the third period of Thursday’s 4-1 win over Boston, and the Lightning are 15-5-1 when he scores. Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel also scored while Nikita Kucherov added two assists, giving him 16 multi-point games this season.
The Lightning scored twice in the final seven minutes of the second period and twice in the final 92 seconds of the third against Boston. Before that, the Lightning snapped a four-game skid with Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Carolina when Point scored with 52 seconds left in regulation.
“These were two tough games to win,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “One game we pulled out with 50 seconds or whatever it was and (Thursday) the game was in the balance until the very end when we got the empty-netter. You have to play so consistently in this league to try to get into the playoffs and you can’t let the ups and downs affect you.”
Tampa Bay also heads to New Jersey on an impressive run of penalty killing. The Lightning are 17-for-17 on the penalty kill in their past eight games and have notched four short-handed goals in that span.
“If we have a chance to go and create an opportunity for a goal or something, we’re going to go,” Cirelli said. “But in saying that, (the priority) first and foremost is to kill the penalty off and make sure we’re not giving anything up.”
–Field Level Media
