N.J. Devils: Eddie Lack Short Circuits Tampa Bay Lightning

From the desk of:  THE BRICK CITY STYX

FINAL

Devils       4

Lightning  3

New Jersey Devils: Look what Newark did to the Tampa Bay Lightning ... again!

The Devils were cruising along with a 22-9-6 record at the time of their Dec. 29 victory over Buffalo.

On Dec. 30, general manager Ray Shero quietly acquired goalie Eddie Lack from the Calgary Flames in exchange for expendable blue-liner Dalton Prout.  At the time of the trade, starting goalie Cory Schneider nor back-up Keith Kincaid had yet experienced their respective groin injuries still to come.  Although Kincaid recovered and continues making starts, Schneider remains sidelined.  On Saturday against the Lightning at Tampa, Eddie Lack rewarded Shero with a very timely and rather heroic effort against one of the league's elite.

Playing in only his third game with the Devils, the opposing Eastern Conference leaders pelted Eddie Lack with 51 shots on goal.  New Jersey mistakes additionally afforded Tampa six power play opportunities.  But despite the Lightning converting twice on the man advantage, Eddie Lack otherwise short circuited the Bolts best efforts by making 48 saves against the league's top scoring team.

The Devils and Bolts traded goals in the first.  Ben Lovejoy opened the scoring just 2:49 into the game.  Despite a quick tying goal by Tampa, the Devils closed out the period with furious action in the Lightning zone.  New Jersey then fell behind only 2:47 into the second session, but Devils rookie Nico Hischier would answer back a mere 36-seconds later.  Pavel Zacha then put the Devils ahead again a little over three minutes later.

The early scoring trend continued in the third.  Newark's Miles Wood scored his 16th goal of the season just 1:24 into the session.  Within minutes, though, Steven Stamkos got the Lightning within one again with a power play goal at the 5:15 mark.  But Tampa would get no closer despite launching one last assault in the closing minutes.

What these young New Jersey Devils essentially did Saturday was prove their first meeting against Tampa, in which they outlasted the Bolts 5-4 in a shootout way back in October, was no fluke.

At 30-20-8 (66-points) the Devils wake up this morning tied with the Flyers for fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Twenty-four games remain in the regular season.  Today, they play the Carolina Hurricanes whom enter the game tied with Columbus, both one point behind the New York Islanders for the second Wild Card spot.