Suddenly explosive Lightning strike early and often in rout of Devils

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Dec 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

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NEWARK, N.J. — It was just three days ago when the Lightning couldn’t buy a goal. But in their past two games, their offense has come blazing back to life.

For the second straight game, the Lightning took control early, scoring four first-period goals and setting a season high in an 8-4 win over the Devils Thursday night at the Prudential Center.

Tampa Bay received offensive contributions from across its lineup, getting goals from seven different players. Twelve had at least a point, with seven recording more than one. Nikita Kucherov led the way with four assists. Oliver Bjorkstrand had two goals and an assist.

After being shut out in consecutive games against the Islanders and Maple Leafs, the Lightning outscored Montreal and New Jersey 14-5 the past two games, including 8-1 in the first period.

Goaltender Jonas Johansson, making his fifth straight start for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy, stopped 33 of 37 shots.

The Lightning (18-11-2) took back first place in the Atlantic Division from the Red Wings,. They improved to 10-4-2 on the road, their 22 road points tied for second most in the Eastern Conference.

The Lightning scored the first of their three goals in the first eight minutes when their fourth line refused to let New Jersey clear the puck out of its own end. Scott Sabourin and Curtis Douglas prevented the Devils from crossing their blue line, and Sabourin fed Nick Paul for a wrist shot from the left hash that beat Jacob Markstrom at 2:57.

Tampa Bay never let New Jersey back into the game. After Darren Raddysh’s sixth goal of the season at 3:48 put the Lightning up 2-0, Luke Hughes made it a one-goal game at the seven-minute mark.

But Pontus Holmberg responded quickly, scoring for the second straight game with a backhand shot off the rush on the next shift.

Seven minutes later, Jake Guentzel was parked at the far post and put Bjorkstrand’s rebound in on the power play to make it 4-1 at the first intermission.

They piled on from there, with Guentzel finding a wide-open Bjorkstrand with a cross-ice pass from the right half-wall to the left circle 6:19 in to the second.

After Jesper Bratt scored to make it 6-2, Brandon Hagel scored from a tight angle on the left side on a feed from Kucherov. The Lightning responded again following Angus Crookshank’s goal, with Brayden Point’s second goal in three nights.

And 29 seconds after Paul Cotter scored in the third, Bjorkstrand scored his second goal on the power play to make it 8-4.