Brandon Hagel had a goal with two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a three-game road losing streak with Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.
Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who are third in Atlantic Division, but won for just the second time in their last seven road games (2-4-1).
Hagel, meanwhile, has six points (two goals, four assists) in the last three games, and posted one of each during a three-goal second period for Tampa Bay, which is 3-1-1 since a recent 0-4-1 rut.
Damon Severson had the lone goal for the Devils, who are in the mix for first place in the Metropolitan Division and had won three straight entering this contest.
Vitek Vanecek, who made 32 saves during a 3-0 victory over Carolina on Sunday, stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced on Tuesday for New Jersey, which is 22-6-4 since Dec. 30.
The Devils opened the scoring just 5:55 into the contest when Severson, who rotated perfectly in front of the net, pushed in the rebound of Timo Meier’s shot. However, the Lightning leveled things with 3:43 remaining in the first period when Cirelli converted off a short-handed, two-on-one surge with Hagel.
Hagel, with 24 goals and a career-high 56 points this season, then came through on the scoring end for Tampa Bay. Again Tampa Bay’s tally came via a two-on-one, this time with Mikhail Sergachev at 8:52 into the second period.
Then with 6:05 remaining in the middle frame, Hagel served up the puck perfectly to Killorn, who blew it by Vanecek from the slot for a 3-1 Lightning advantage.
Kucherov extended Tampa Bay’s lead with less than a second remaining on the second-period clock as he crashed the net, then backhanded home a pass from Brayden Point.
Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy did not face a barrage of shots from the Devils on Tuesday, but was solid in making 22 saves.
These teams play again at New Jersey on Thursday, then Tampa Bay will host their final regular-season meeting on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
