NEWARK, N.J. — The Lightning was happy to at least salvage a point in Friday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Devils, having overcome a two-goal deficit to tie the score in the final minute.
"We earned it," wing Ryan Callahan said.
But as coach Jon Cooper said, it never should have came to that. Like Tampa Bay (20-10-4) has done often in its recent rut — dropping five of its past seven — it outshot (28-18) and outchanced the Devils, who snapped a five-game losing streak.
However, after a couple of weird bounces led to New Jersey's two goals, the Lightning's scuffling offense couldn't overcome the deficit. Once the highest-scoring team in the league, the Lightning has mustered two goals or fewer in five of its past seven.
"It's just been our trend as of late," Cooper said. "It's dried up a little bit. We've got to start winning the games 2-1. If you can't win those games, you're not going to win many. It's down to that time of year."
The Lightning power play was again a culprit, going 0-for-5, including squandering a four-minute advantage with less than 10 minutes left.
"We get a power-play goal, it's a different story," Callahan said. "Our power play needs to be better. The top teams in the league usually are top in power play, It's something we need to fix."
Goalie Evgeni Nabokov made some big saves but was hurt by a couple of bad bounces. Adam Henrique's power-play goal three minutes in came when Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison smacked a rebound off the back wall and the puck caromed back into the crease for an easy tap-in. Then Patrick Elias did a spin-o-rama before sending a backhanded shot that deflected off Matt Carle's stick and fluttered over Nabokov's shoulder.
"At the end of the day, it's shots, scrambles and deflections," Nabokov said.
The Lightning isn't getting enough greasy goals. It passed too much, including turning down grade-A chances against Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid, who got his first NHL win. Steven Stamkos scored his 19th goal in the second, putting in a rebound off a Callahan shot; Jonathan Drouin set it up with his work in the corner. Nikita Kucherov sent the game into overtime with his backhand goal with 40 seconds left after Nabokov was pulled. But Elias scored the only goal in the shootout. The Lightning is 1-4 in shootouts.
"(Shootouts) are a crapshoot," Callahan said. "But they're very important points."
Devils | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Lightning | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Devils win shootout 1-0 |
Devils | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Lightning | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Devils win shootout 1-0 |
First—1, NJ, Henrique 9 (Greene, Gomez), 3:01 (pp). 2, NJ, Elias 4 (Havlat, Henrique), 15:17. Penalties—Boyle, TB (hook), 1:21; Sestito, NJ (hook), 9:19; Gelinas, NJ (trip), 16:59.
Second—3, TB, Stamkos 19 (Callahan, Drouin), 14:55. Penalties—Stamkos, TB (trip), 1:18; Boyle, TB (trip), 7:51; Ryder, NJ (embellish), 7:51; Killorn, TB (goaltender interference), 16:20.
Third—4, TB, Kucherov 13 (Callahan, Garrison), 19:19. Penalties—Ryder, NJ (hold), 5:05; Ryder, NJ, double minor (high-stick), 12:18. OT—None. Penalties—None. SO—TB 0 (Stamkos, Kucherov, Drouin), NJ 1 (Gomez, T.Zajac, Elias G). SOG—TB 6-12-8-2—28. NJ 6-6-4-2—18. PP opps—TB 0-5; NJ 1-3. Goalies—TB, Nabokov 3-4-2 (18 shots-16 saves). NJ, Kinkaid 1-1-2 (28-26).