TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning have spent the past month munching points, but sometimes their games have been too close for comfort.
There have been times over their point streak when they allowed the ice to tilt, and that happened Saturday afternoon at Amalie Arena, when they blew a two-goal, third-period lead against the Devils.
New Jersey scored four times in the third, snapping the Lightning’s three-game win streak and nine-game point streak in a 5-3 loss.
Yegor Sharangovich scored the go-ahead goal and capped a run of three Devils goals in the first 9:34 of the third as the Devils went ahead 4-3.
Shortly after that, Lightning center Brayden Point was awarded a penalty shot after he was tripped from behind on a breakaway. Point slid into the boards hard and was in obvious pain but remained on the ice. He made a move that had Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood beat, but pinged his shot harmlessly off the crossbar.
P.K. Subban’s stretch pass from his own goal line sprung forward Jimmy Vesey on a breakaway, and Vesey beat Andrei Vasilevskiy top shelf 5:39 into the third to tie.
That goal came after the Lightning were denied on a perfectly executed 2-on-0 breakaway as Blackwood came up with a remarkable glove save on a shot by Alex Killorn.
The Devils cut the lead to one goal 72 seconds into the third on a fantastic move by rookie Dawson Mercer, who drew Vasilevskiy out of the crease, faked a wraparound and tucked the puck inside the post. Tomas Tatar’s empty-netter with 1:16 left provided the final margin.
Saturday marked the first time Vasilevskiy allowed more than three goals since his second start of the season.
The Lightning initially took control of the game with a 2-1 lead in the first period when Pat Maroon gave Tampa Bay a power-play goal for four consecutive games.
Maroon, who recently rejoined the team’s second power-play unit, scored with 1:45 left in the first, cleaning up a loose puck in front of the net following Ross Colton’s one-timer on net from the right circle.
The Lightning took a two-goal lead thanks to Victor Hedman 6:17 into the second. He was set up by rookie Boris Katchouk’s heady cross-ice seam pass. Hedman skated to the left dot and rifled a shot past Blackwood. He was assisted by Jan Rutta.
The stay-at-home defenseman, not known for his offensive game, scored the Lightning’s first goal. Rutta took advantage of traffic in front of the net with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that Blackwood didn’t see well through two Devils players screened in front of him with 5:49 into the period.
Rutta had no goals in 35 regular-season games last season (he had two in the postseason), but now has two goals in his last six games.
Vasilevskiy wasn’t tested much early as the Lightning dominated zone time in the first period. New Jersey had 18 second-period shot attempts, and Vasilevskiy made 15 saves in the period.
