After a successful California road trip, the Tampa Bay Lightning returned to Amalie Arena for a three-game homestand before a week break due to the NHL’s scheduled Olympic break (which the league is obviously no longer attending). The Lightning started off the homestand with a 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. Alex Killorn, Mathieu Joseph, and Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay. Damon Severson and Jack Hughes scored for New Jersey. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 of 33 shots while Dan Gillies stopped 32 of 35 shots.
Normally, the Lightning struggle on their first home game after a road trip, and early on it appeared this game would follow suit as the Devils dictated the majority of play for the opening half of the first period.