High-scoring Devils aim to keep up pace in Tampa
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - Thanks to captain Steven Stamkos, the Tampa Bay Lightning are always a threat to get hot on offense.
Picking up goals at a rapid pace this early is a little new for the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils try to keep their offense clicking on Tuesday night as they resume their season-opening road trip against the Lightning.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New Jersey has potted 11 goals over its first two games, wins over Philadelphia and Florida. That is the most for the club over a two-game stretch to start the campaign since also scoring 11 in 1991-92.
New Jersey netted 17 goals over its first three contests that season, another mark it would love to match tonight.
Netminder Cory Schneider has enjoyed the support in winning the first two games. The Devils scored a mere 10 goals over his first nine games last season, shut out four times in that span.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Schneider made 28 saves in Saturday's 5-1 win over the Panthers, while the Devils scored four times in the first period.
Rookie defenseman Damon Severson had a goal and an assist for his first career NHL points, while Eric Gelinas, Martin Havlat, Mike Cammalleri and Ryane Clowe also scored.
"I think we had a great first period," Havlat said. "The second half of the game was a little bit weird (with) a lot of (penalty kill) time and not much flow in the game."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New Jersey will try to stay perfect on its road trip, which wraps on Thursday against Washington. The Devils started 1-5-4 last season.
The Lightning have yet to lose in regulation through three games and followed up a shootout loss to Ottawa with a 7-1 thrashing of Montreal. That pushed Tampa Bay to 2-0-1 on the season.
Stamkos scored his first goals of the season, posting his eighth career hat trick, while defenseman Victor Hedman set a career high with four points off a goal and three assists.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hedman leads the NHL with seven points, posting three goals and four assists.
Vladislav Namestnikov and Ryan Callahan each posted goal and an assist and Ondrej Palat also scored for the Lightning, who are concluding a four-game homestand tonight.
Ben Bishop posted 16 stops in the win.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The most gratifying part of the night was, we won," said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper. "I thought for the most part we played extremely well on the defensive end."
Evgeni Nabokov could make his Tampa Bay debut tonight in net. He is 6-10-0 with a 3.09 goals against average and .885 save percentage in 16 career meetings with the Devils.
Schneider is just 1-0-1 in two previous encounters with the Bolts, posting a 4.30 GAA and .833 save percentage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Devils won a pair of home games versus the Lightning last season, but lost a 3-0 decision in their lone trip to Tampa on March 15. They have still won eight of the last 11 as the guest in this series.