Recap: Devils Drop Second-Straight Game to Tampa in OT Shootout

Date: March 17, 2023

By: Brian Henderson

Timo Meier sneaks one past the goalie for the score.

Elsa/Getty Images

The New Jersey Devils (44-17-7) suffered a tough loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning (41-22-6) in a shootout.

This comes just two days after the Devils suffered a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Lightning.

The Devils’ offense was a lot more aggressive this time around. They put 35 shots on goal tonight compared to just 23 shots on Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Devils, Lightning goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy chose tonight to have a terrific game. He saved 32-of-35 shots, including 7-of-8 on the powerplay.

The Lightning’s scoring carried over as forward Ross Colton put his 16^th goal of the season past Akira Schmid in the first period. The rest of the period was an offensive stalemate, as neither team scored.

The second period was a bit more eventful. Tomas Tatar scored his 16^th goal of the year off of a rebound, with Nico Hirschier and Dawson Mercer assisting.

New Jersey appeared to be in prime position to take their first lead of the game on a 5-3 powerplay with just over four minutes left in the second.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Vasilevskiy thwarted all of the Devils attempts, and forward Steve Stamkos hit a beautiful shot past Schmid once the power play had ended.

Finding themselves down 2-1 in the third, the recent trade acquisition Timo Meier scored his first goal of the night off a rebound on a tough angle.

But the tie only lasted five minutes. Stamkos again slammed a slapshot to the right side of the net to give the Lightning back the lead.

It was Meier again who scored his second goal of the game and 34^th of the season to lock this game into a 3-3 tie.

TIMO TIER, WE MEAN MEIER TIED ‘ER. pic.twitter.com/drS1RvCjel
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 17, 2023

After a scoreless overtime, the game headed to a shootout. Trying to feed the hot hand, Timo Meier was up first for the Devils, but Vasilevskiy saved it. The teams traded goals from Ross Colton and Yegor Sharangovich, but Alex Killorn closed out the game with a shot into the bottom left of the net.

The Devils travel down to Florida on Saturday for a match against the Panthers before returning home to play the Wild on March 21.

Brian Henderson can be reached at brian.henderson@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, NHL, New Jersey Devils