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NHL Playoffs 2018: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Devils preview and prediction

By Dave Stevenson

NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 24: Alex Killorn #17 of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nico Hischier #13 of the New Jersey Devils battle for the puck during the second period at the Prudential Center on March 24, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 24: Alex Killorn #17 of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nico Hischier #13 of the New Jersey Devils battle for the puck during the second period at the Prudential Center on March 24, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images) /
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The upstart New Jersey Devils take on the Atlantic Division champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first-round of the NHL Playoffs 2018 

Last season, neither the Tampa Bay Lightning nor the New Jersey Devils make the postseason. Though this was for different reasons. The former suffered numerous injuries, most notably one to Steven Stamkos. Meanwhile, the latter finished close to the bottom of the standings. 12 months later, both teams are in the NHL Playoffs 2018 and are facing each other.

The Lightning won the Atlantic Division, though they had to wait for the Boston Bruins to lose to the Florida Panthers to do so. Still, an impressive feat. New Jersey, led by Hart Trophy candidate Taylor Hall and two stellar rookies (Nico Hischier and Will Butcher), lead a team fully capable of pulling off a massive upset.

Lightning

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Tampa Bay comes into this series as the overwhelming favorites. They scored the most goals in the NHL (296) while allowing 236 (13th in the league). Tampa Bay has a vulnerable penalty kill, which was one of the worst in the league this season.

Nikita Kucherov was one of the three players to hit triple digits in points. The Lightning have nine players with over 40 points and 10 with over 30. Victor Hedman leads their mobile, impressive blueline.

Devils

New Jersey is one of the fastest teams in the league. They take advantage of other team’s mistakes. That said, there’s a good reason New Jersey is the eighth seed. While they have Hall, their depth past him isn’t that impressive. Kyle Palmieri and Hischier are their next two highest scorers. And Hall nearly has more points and goals than both of them combined.

It will be interesting to see who New Jersey goes with in goal. Keith Kinkaid has been the guy as of late, but outside of a hot March, hasn’t been anything special. Cory Schneider has been battling injuries and inconsistency.

The X-Factor

One player is going to determine how this series goes. That player? Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. He’s the player fully capable of making this series five games in either direction. Vasilevskiy had a terrific first-half. However, his second-half was much worse, as he barely stopped 90 percent of the shots he saw.

Which Vasilevskiy is going to show up? The good one can ensure the Lightning win in five games. However, if the second-half version shows up, things could get very interesting. Especially since Tampa Bay’s next best option is Louis Domingue.

Next: Power Ranking the Stanley Cup Playoff Teams

Prediction

The Lightning should win this series in six games. New Jersey isn’t going to go down without a huge fight. Tampa Bay has been coasting a bit, so it should be interesting to see if they can put the pedal to the metal after taking it easy for the better part of a month. Their record says otherwise, but we haven’t seen the truly dominant Lightning in a while. If that team shows up, this could be over in five games.

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