TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Darren Raddysh scored 1:52 into overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Thursday night.
The defenseman got the game-winner from the left circle. NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov got his second assist on the goal, giving him 69 points this season.
“Just get open,” Raddysh said. “He's going to find you, eventually.”
Luke Glendening had two goals, and Brayden Point also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves.
Tampa Bay trails third-place Toronto by three points in the Atlantic Division, though the Maple Leafs have four games in hand.
The Lightning came from two down in the third period to beat the Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Tuesday.
“We have zero wiggle room,” coach Jon Cooper said.
Cooper tied Pat Burns for 27th place in NHL history with his 501st win.
New Jersey got goals from Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt and Nathan Bastian. Vitek Vanecek stopped 16 shots.
“I think we played a pretty solid game all the way through,” Bratt said. “It (stinks) not to get those two points.”
Bastian stopped a 22-game goal drought and tied it at 3 early in the third on a breakaway. A potential go-ahead goal just more than two minutes later by Michael McLeod was overturned after a replay review determined the Devils were offside.
“We did a lot of good things,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “A tough break. I think they made the right call.”
The Devils scored first for just the 12th time this season when Mercer banked a shot off Vasilevskiy 7:42 into the game.
Glendening had a waist-high deflection five minutes later and then got Tampa Bay’s first short-handed goal after Devils defenseman Luke Hughes stumbled and lost the puck with 1:38 left in the first.
Point and Bratt traded second-period goals. Point reached 20 goals for the seventh consecutive season.
Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos was held without a point and finished minus-2. He is minus-20 for the season.
The Devils are without center Jack Hughes, defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler, and wingers Ondrej Palat, Timo Meier and Tomas Nosek.
Tampa Bay defenseman Calvin de Haan left late in the first after being hit by Mercer's shot in the mouth but returned in the second. Defensman Erik Cernak also departed in the first after being checked into the boards and didn't return due an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT
Devils: Will play Saturday night at Florida.
Lightning: Will host Anaheim on Saturday night.
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