Killorn scores twice, Lightning beat Devils 5-3 in Game 2

It’s great to play well, even better to win.

That’s how the Tampa Bay Lightning view a 2-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils.

“As a coach, you care about everything. You’d like to say you played the perfect game, but somebody else has a vote out there,” coach Jon Cooper said Saturday after a 5-3 victory in Game 2 of the first-round matchup.

“When we wake up tomorrow, you look back and say: ‘OK, which parts of the game did we do well.’ And we’ll be able to look at a lot of that tape and say we did really well. And we’ll look at some and say that wasn’t so good,” Cooper added. “I’m pretty sure New Jersey is going to do the exact same thing. It’s the playoffs. There’s going to be battles, there’s going to be swings of momentum, but the big thing for me is who won the game.”

Alex Killorn scored twice during a four-goal second period, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18 shots in the final period to hold off the pesky Devils.

“We did bend a little bit in the third but didn’t break, so it’s a good feeling to be up 2-0,” Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman said. “You’ve got to win the game. That’s the bottom line.”

The Atlantic Division champions scored three times in a 2:47 span in the second period, and the reeling Devils pulled goalie Keith Kinkaid after Killorn’s third goal in two games made it 5-1 with 6:48 remaining in the period.

Kinkaid, whose stellar play since January helped New Jersey finish strong and claim its first playoff berth since 2012, yielded five goals on 15 shots.

Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay, which is up 2-0 in the series after going 0-2-1 against the Devils during the regular season.

Game 3 is Monday night in Newark, New Jersey.

The Devils have played well in spurts, overcoming slow starts to keep both games interesting.