Guentzel Scores Hat Trick as Lightning Defeat Devils

Mike Smith
2 days ago
3 min read

By Mike Smith | Thunderstruck Sports

Lightning celebrate goal — The Tampa Bay Lightning cruised past the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena. Photo Credit: Alyssa Shumko | Thunderstruck Sports

Jake Guentzel scored a hat trick for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. Darren Raddysh had a goal and two assists, and Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist for the Lightning.

The hat trick was the eighth of Guentzel's career and his third with the Lightning.

Tampa Bay started strong with two goals in the first period. Guentzel opened the scoring when he collected an errant pass from Dawson Mercer and beat Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom on a breakaway halfway through the period. Kucherov's goal at the end of the period put the Bolts up 2-0 going into the first intermission.

"It was a great response (after Sunday's 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks)," Guentzel said. "It's nice when you get off to a lead early."

Kucherov's goal was the 366th of his career, moving him past Martin St Louis for third on the Lightning's all-time goal list.

Guentzel Leads Lightning Offense

Tampa Bay widened the lead when Guentzel scored his second of the night at the 10:38 mark of the second period. Raddysh sent a puck towards the Devils' net that Guentzel would tip in on a power play to bring the lead to 3-0.

"It's always nice when you can produce, and I'm just obviously very fortunate to be able to score goals in this league," Guentzel said. "So you take them as they come, and hopefully there are many more."

New Jersey cut the lead to 3-1 on a Nico Hischier goal late in the second period. Andrei Vasilevskiy's blocker initially saved Devils' forward Arseny Gritsyuk's shot. However, the rebound was deflected by Hischier's skate towards the goal. Bolts defenseman J.J. Moser inadvertently pushed the puck over the goal line in a scrum with Hischier in front of the net.

Despite the goal, Vasilevkiy stopped the remaining 31 shots he faced.

Unlike Sunday's performance, Tampa Bay was diligent in putting the game away in the third period. Raddysh extended the lead to 4-1 with a slap shot that beat Markstrom on the stick side. Guentzel wrapped up his hat trick at the 7:48 mark of the final period when he chipped a puck past the Devils' netminder off a Kucherov pass.

Bolts Pleased All Around With Performance

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper missed Tuesday night's game due to personal reasons. Assistant Coach Jim Halpern served as Head Coach and was pleased with the team's performance.

"I think my job was to get out of the way of those guys, and they've always responded well to any adversity, and tonight wasn't any different," Halpern said. "For me, it was enjoyable. The circumstances obviously were not ideal, but to be a part of that was great!"

"We had a good, hard practice yesterday, and it translated into our game," Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli said. "We were able to stick to our structure for the most part, and Vasy bailed us out when we gave up some chances."

"But to get five and give up one is a pretty good night for us."

"I would say as a group, especially individually, a lot of guys looked really good and confident with the puck tonight," Halpern said. "And I think when those guys look like that, it helps the power play."

Three Stars of the Game

Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay. His eighth career hat trick and third as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay. One goal and an assist move him to third all-time in Lightning history.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay. Stopped 31 of 32 shots, including some key saves to keep New Jersey at bay early while the Lightning built their lead.