TAMPA, Fla. _ Each win is worth two points. But there are some victories that mean a little more.
Earning a road win against the top team in the Eastern Conference qualifies, especially with backup goalie Eddie Lack outplaying likely Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Devils beat the Lightning, 4-3, on Saturday night at Amalie Arena with another solid team effort, often outskating the hosts to loose pucks and having the physical edge in the game. Plus, they survived a frantic final two minutes with the Lightning skating six on five.
The Devils (30-20-8) have now won three straight heading into Sunday night's game at Carolina. They remain in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and in the first wild-card spot as the Devils seek their first playoff berth since 2012. They matched the third-place Flyers' 68 points while moving four points ahead of the fifth-place Islanders.
The Lightning (39-17-3), now 20-6-1 at home, went 2 for 6 on the power play but also gave up a short-handed goal. And the Devils came up with a clutch penalty kill on the Lightning's last man advantage after Taylor Hall tripped Alex Killorn at 11:56.
Vasilevskiy stopped 24 saves but Lack made a career-high 48 saves, including 13 power-play tries, as the Lightning set a season high for most shots taken.
Lack had stopped 22 shots in a 5-3 loss to the visiting Bruins this past Sunday in his first start for the Devils since being acquired from the Flames on Dec. 30 for defenseman Dalton Prout.
Miles Wood put the Devils ahead 4-2 at 1:24 of the third period as the Lightning were simply outworked around Vasilevskiy's crease.
But Steven Stamkos drew a tripping penalty on Kyle Palmieri at 5:03 and converted on a power-play one-timer 12 seconds later to bring the Lightning within 4-3.
The Devils, building off their recent strong play, showed good resiliency in the second period after Brayden Point put the Lightning ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 2:47.
Nico Hischier, again keeping the puck on a rush as he did in scoring a crucial goal in Thursday night's 5-2 win over the Hurricanes, tied the game just 26 seconds after Point's goal.
Hall extended his career-high point streak to 10 games with the primary assist. Hall does have at least one point in each of his last 17 games but the NHL will not recognize that as a continuous streak since Hall missed the three games prior to the All-Star Game with an injured right thumb.
Pavel Zacha, like Hischier, keeping the puck on the rush, made it 3-2 with a short-handed goal at 6:27 after Wood drew a boarding call for his hit on Vladislav Namestnikov and added a roughing penalty for bloodying Andrej Sustr's face by punching through his visor when the defenseman came to his teammate's aid at 4:54.
Defenseman Ben Lovejoy had given the Devils a 1-0 lead at 2:59 of the first period, flipping the puck from the right boards through Killorn's screen and Anton Stralman's skates to beat a surprised Vasilevskiy to the near post.
It was the 33-year-old Lovejoy's second goal of the season, third in two seasons with the Devils and the 18th of his career.
But after the Devils failed on yet another power play opportunity _ they are now 0 for 16 over their past five games and in a 3-for-48 rut _ the Lightning swung the momentum.
Chris Kunitz, left alone in the left circle, fired a first-timer over Lack's glove off Ryan Callahan's backhanded feed to tie the game at 1 at 12:41 of the first period and the Lightning took 13 of the period's final 15 shots.
