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Bolts aim for fourth straight win against improving Devils

Oct 29, 2013 - 3:04 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Tampa Bay Lightning take aim at a fourth straight victory on Tuesday night as they visit a New Jersey Devils squad looking to put its slow start in the rearview.

The Lightning are coming off a 4-3 shootout win over the Florida Panthers on Sunday. Steven Stamkos has a goal and an assist in regulation before notching the game-winner in the fourth round of the tiebreaker.

Valtteri Filppula also scored in the shootout and Anders Lindback stopped three of the four skaters he faced after posting 29 saves through overtime. It was his third start of the season.

Martin St. Louis and Radko Gudas netted regulation goals for the Bolts, who are tied for first place in the Atlantic Division.

"We probably have the quietest 8-3 record in the league," said Stamkos. "And we like it that way."

Stamkos has been anything but quiet over Tampa Bay's three-game win streak, notching three goals and seven points. He was named the NHL's First Star for the week on Monday.

Ben Bishop could return to net tonight for the Lightning. He is 7-1-0 with a 2.47 goals against average in eight games this season and 2-1-0 with a 2.17 GAA in three meetings with the Devils lifetime.

New Jersey has gone 2-1-1 in four games since starting the season with seven straight losses (0-4-3). The Devils notched a big 4-3 win over Boston on Saturday, getting a pair of power-play goals in the last 68 seconds of the game.

Marek Zidlicky tied the game with 1:08 remaining while the Devils were skating 6-on-3 and Andy Greene scored the game-winner on a 5-on-4 advantage with 44.1 seconds left.

Jaromir Jagr assisted on Greene's game-winner, his second helper of the night, giving him six assists over his last four games.

"We were due for some good fortune," Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. "I mean, we haven't had a lot of it through the first 10 or 11 games. And I thought the guys continued to work hard.

"We dug ourselves a little hole early and considering the circumstances, it would've been easy to pack it in and we didn't. We kept chipping away and like I said, we were due for some good luck."

Adam Henrique and Damien Brunner had the others and Martin Brodeur made 25 saves, including 18 total in the second and third periods, as the Devils snapped a two-game slide with their first road win of the campaign.

Brodeur should get the start again tonight after Cory Schneider was placed on injured reserve Monday due to a lower-body injury. Keith Kinkaid will serve as the backup again.

Brodeur is 37-16-3 with a five ties, five shutouts and a 2.14 GAA in 63 career meetings versus the Lightning.

New Jersey captain Bryce Salvador was also placed on IR Monday due to a foot injury. He blocked a shot against Columbus last Tuesday and has missed the previous two games for personal reasons.

The Lightning have won five of their last eight versus the Devils, but have dropped nine of the last 12 in New Jersey.