Three Takeaways from Lightning vs. Devils | 10/11/2025

Two games into the 2025-26 regular season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning look worse than they have in years. After blowing two separate multi-goal leads to the Ottawa Senators in a 5-4 season-opening loss on Thursday night, one would think this team would come out with a purpose against a talented New Jersey Devils team that lost their opener in Carolina. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, as Tampa Bay struggled to get anything going in a horrible first period that saw them go down 3-0. While they showed signs of life in the second, a bad turnover on the power play ended up being the nail in the coffin of a 5-3 defeat. That made this team 0-2, marking their worst start to a season since 2008-09.

Odd Man Rushes Galore

For a team with only a couple of new faces, the number of odd-man rushes allowed in the first two games has to be alarming. That’s not something one expects from a Jon Cooper coached team, especially one with the amount of experience and talent this one has. While they like to pass east-west, that leaves them susceptible to turnovers. Against a team like the Devils, who transitions well, that’s a recipe for disaster. JJ Moser’s two game suspension for boarding Jesper Boqvist in last Saturday’s preseason finale didn’t help, as the defense pairings fluctuated. Darren Raddysh spent Thursday’s season opener on the top pairing with Victor Hedman, but after struggling to keep the puck out of the net, rookie Max Crozier started this game alongside Hedman. He had a couple of mistakes early, but also assisted on the Lightning’s first two goals. Emil Lilleberg hasn’t played his best either, allowing too many prime scoring chances.

Lack of Shots on Goal

A team with the likes of Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, and Jake Guentzel, among others, should not have only two shots on goal in 20 minutes and 13 total. Passing was an issue after the first period against Ottawa on Thursday, and it spilled into this game. While the Lightning looked to have gotten better in the middle frame, they couldn’t make the pass needed on a third period power play with a chance to tie the game. Instead, they missed connecting with one another, and Nico Hischier broke away short-handed to give the Devils a 4-2 lead. It’s not realistic to think that every game will feature crisp passing, but there’s a problem when the passing is so far off that it results in turnovers, which lead to scoring chances against.

Vasilevskiy Looks Rusty

With Andrei Vasilevskiy missing a good chunk of training camp and all but one preseason game due to a minor injury, there had to be questions about whether he would be ready to start the season. Through two games, it’s clear that he isn’t himself. Yes, he’s still made enough saves to keep the Lightning in the game for the most part. He hasn’t made any saves that make a person go “Wow,” though. In fact, he gave up a soft goal from a bad angle to make a comeback near impossible at 5-2. For a goaltender who prides himself on keeping his team in games, there’s no doubt Vasilevskiy can be better than what he’s shown through two games. Nine goals against won’t win a team many games, no matter who’s in net.