TAMPA, Fla. — Valtteri Filppula put himself in position to help the Tampa Bay Lightning rally for another win.
Filppula scored the go-ahead goal on a nifty redirection early in the third period and the Lightning beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Saturday night.
“It’s a lot fun coaching these guys,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We’ve got a group that’s never out of it.”
Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn also scored for the Lightning, who have opened the season with two comeback wins after trailing by two early in both games.
The Devils got goals from Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac. New Jersey lost its season opener 2-1 in overtime Thursday night at Florida.
“It’s not good enough to get only one point this trip when we felt we could have got three or four,” Devils goalie Cory Schneider said. “But going on the road against two of the best teams in our conference, we have to just maintain our confidence and know that we can play with the best. We’ve got to find a way to win these games and close them out.”
Filppula was positioned in the slot and had his thigh-high deflection of Jason Garrison’s shot elude Schneider at 5:43. Rookie Brayden Point also assisted on the goal to get his first NHL point.
“Just trying to get a little piece of it,” Filppula said. “Make it a little tougher for the goalie. Obviously, those kind of goals, you need a little bit of luck as well, too.”
Stamkos, on an in-close redirection, and Killorn scored 2:14 apart midway through the second to tie it at 2. Stamkos has 16 goals and 27 points in 26 games against New Jersey.
The Devils had what looked like a tiebreaking goal by Andy Greene with 4:27 left in the second disallowed after a video review following a Tampa Bay challenge determined New Jersey’s Michael Cammalleri was offside on the play.
“It happens … it’s the right call,” Greene said.
Schneider had Nikita Kucherov’s backhander trickle past him in the opening minute of the third but teammate Ben Lovejoy kept the puck from crossing the goal line. The no-goal call was confirmed following a video review.
After Palmieri scored 52 seconds into the first, Zajac made it 2-0 at 4:26 when his left circle shot went off Tampa Bay defenceman Anton Stralman and past goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Vasilevskiy made 32 saves. Schneider stopped 31 shots.
The Lightning trailed 2-0 about 8 1/2 minutes into Thursday night’s 6-4 season-opening win over Detroit.
“We know what we’re capable of when we’re playing the right way,” Stamkos said. “It’s just we can’t wait to get down to give us a kick in the pants to get going.”
NOTES: New Jersey and Tampa Bay play all three games of the season series in a 22-day span. … Tampa Bay D Braydon Coburn played in his 700th NHL game. … The Lightning outscored New Jersey 11-3 in winning all three games against the Devils last season.
