Jersey eliminated as Tampa proves too tough
In the end, defeating the top team in the East was simply too much of an ask for the Devils, whose season will be remembered as one of progress and returning to the playoffs ahead of schedule.
The Devils seem to have a bright future, something they can take solace in during the offseason. In the short-term, though, the pain of losing this first-round series to the Lightning after dropping Game 5 Saturday afternoon in Tampa, 3-1, will be at the forefront of their minds.
“It’s been a fun year,” Cory Schneider, who made 35 saves and stopped 113 of 119 shots since taking over for Keith Kinkaid midway through Game 2, told reporters. “It’s always tough when that ends, but it never ends when you want it to unless you go all the way. I thought we took a big step forward as a group, as an organization. Disappointed we couldn’t do more to go further in the playoffs. Obviously that’s gonna sit with us for a while here.”
The what-ifs will especially weigh heavily, though even if they had gone the Devils’ way it might not have changed much. Those what-ifs being how Sami Vatanen, who left late in the first period in Game 4 with an upperbody injury suffered on a Nikita Kucherov hit and missed Game 5, could’ve helped their chances; another being how differently Game 5 might’ve played out if they didn’t take so many penalties.
New Jersey had to kill off four penalties in the second period and another to begin the third, poor discipline keeping the puck on the Lightning’s sticks. The Devils had hope because of Schneider, who after a trying season regained his form in this series. He made 18 saves in the second, 11 of which came on Tampa Bay power plays, while New Jersey had just four shots in the second.
With Schneider on the bench for an extra attacker, Kyle Palmieri cut the deficit to one with 3:00 remaining, but the Devils couldn’t find another goal to extend their season before ex-Ranger Ryan Callahan’s empty-netter.
Kucherov’s shot from the blue line with 7:33 left in the game put the Lightning up 2-0. The Devils went a stretch of 11:57 without a shot, which ended at 5:01 of the third.
Tampa Bay’s first goal came from Mikhail Sergachev at 8:07 of the first period after a fierce forecheck against Travis Zajac and Andy Greene, the two players left from the Devils team that reached the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, forced a turnover behind the New Jersey net. Sergachev’s shot found its way in through a handful of bodies obstructing Schneider’s vision. The Devils’ season ends with them scoring just twice over their final two games, Taylor Hall unable to recreate the magic that dragged them into the playoffs and lifted them to a Game 3 win. The MVP candidate’s first taste of the playoffs came and went in two weeks. If trajectory holds, there will be more postseasons ahead for Hall and the Devils. For now, they lament their feel-good season coming to a close. “I think you have to be proud of what we accomplished, but I think when you look at the difference between the end of last year and this year, I think what happened in the offseason mindset-wise and the things we did to make our team better, make our team culture better, we took a big step last year and it needs to now make another big step,” John Hynes said. “We can be proud, but we can’t be satisfied.”