Reinforcements arrived for the New Jersey Devils ahead of their Tuesday night game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena.
Forward Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov, along with defenseman Dougie Hamilton, returned to head coach Sheldon Keefe’s lineup. Brenden Dillon, who was a game-time decision after missing Monday’s practice, also played.
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The welcomed additions to the lineup caused a shake-up amongst the Devils’ forward group, with only one line remaining intact from the prior game. Arseny Gritsyuk was elevated to play with Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt, while Dawson Mercer centered a line with Timo Meier and Brown on his wings. Dadonov began on the fourth line with Paul Cotter and Luke Glendening.
The new-look Devils looked out of sync for most of the 60 minutes and ultimately suffered a 5-1 loss to the Lightning, with Guentzel scoring a hat trick.
Guentzel scored the game’s opening goal at 11:40 of the first period. Mercer attempted a pass to Meier, but Guentzel picked up the pass and beat Markstrom on the breakaway.
With 21 seconds left in the opening period, Anthony Cirelli found a wide-open Nikita Kucherov to extend Tampa’s lead to 2-0 heading into the first intermission.
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While Luke Hughes was in the penalty box, Tampa extended its lead to 3-0. Guentzel scored his second goal of the game.
Hischier provided a spark for the team when he scored in the final minutes of the second period. The play was reviewed and confirmed as a good goal. Gritsyuk and Bratt picked up the assists.
Darren Raddysh’s slap shot beat Markstrom 4:49 into the third period, for a 4-1 Tampa lead. Dennis Cholowski turned the puck over to J.J. Moser. He passed the puck up ice to Brayden Point, who found Raddysh.
With 12 minutes remaining in regulation, Guentzel completed the hat trick, securing a 5-1 victory for the Lightning. He entered tonight’s game with 32 points in 33 games against New Jersey.
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The Devils will travel to Sunrise to face the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
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