Tampa Bay pushes past New Jersey in Game 1

TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a strong start in the NHL playoffs.

The top seed in the Eastern Conference got early goals from four players — none of them named Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos — before holding off the New Jersey Devils for a 5-2 victory Thursday night in Game 1 of the firstround series.

Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Yanni Gourde scored, helping the Lightning build a 3-0 lead that New Jersey trimmed to one goal before Alex Killorn and Kucherov, who added an empty-netter with 1:12 remaining, finished off the win.

Taylor Hall scored an unassisted goal in the second period, then assisted on Travis Zajac's powerplay goal that trimmed the Devils' deficit to 3-2 midway through third against Andrei Vasilievskiy, who had 29 saves for Tampa Bay.

Killorn's shot over the glove of goalie Kevin Kincaid's glove restored a twogoal lead before Kucherov, who led the Lightning with 100 points this season, ensured there would be no comeback.

Game 2 is Saturday Amalie Arena.

The Devils won all three meetings between the teams during the regular season, with each game decided by one goal.

Kinkaid entered his first career playoff game as one of the hottest goalies in the league, going 7-0-1 over his last eight starts to help New Jersey grab its first playoff berth since the Devils reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012.

The Lightning, on the other hand, have been driven all season by failing to make the playoffs last spring after making deep runs previous two years. at