It was Kucherov’s 366th NHL goal, passing Martin St. Louis for third in Lightning history.
“The first period hurt us for sure, a couple of little mistakes that ended up in the back of our net,” Hischier said. “Obviously, against a team like that you don’t want to be down 2-0. We’ve just got to do a better job in the first period.”
Guentzel’s second goal pushed it to 3-0 at 10:38 of the second period. Raddysh sent the puck to the net, and Guentzel scored on a redirection from close range on the power play.
“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.”
Hischier cut it to 3-1 at 17:47. New Jersey forward Arseny Gritsyuk’s shot bounced off Vasilevskiy’s blocker and was deflected by Hischier’s skate toward the goal, where Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser accidentally pushed the puck past the goal line while he was battling with Hischier in front of the net.
“At the end I see he’s putting it in, I didn’t know the rule or anything,” Hischier said. “I kind of bounced it toward the net, I didn’t get a stick on it, but I saw he put it in. Obviously, probably one of the weirdest goals I’ve scored.”
Raddysh extended it to 4-1 at 4:49 of the third period with a slap shot from above the top of the right circle that beat Markstrom stick side.
Guentzel completed the hat trick at 7:48 with a power-play goal to make it 5-1. He chipped the puck past Markstrom off a cross-ice pass from Kucherov.
“We had a good, hard practice yesterday and it translated into our game,” 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.”
NOTES: Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton had three shots on goal in 19:53 of ice time in his return after missing four games. … New Jersey forward Connor Brown returned to the lineup after missing the past seven games. He had a shot on goal in 15:21. …Devils forward Evgenii Dadonov returned after missing 17 games. He had a shot on goal in 12:51. …Cirelli had an assist and a shot on goal in 18:31 in his return after missing four games. … Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak did not play and is day to day with a lower-body injury.