Jake Guentzel recorded the eighth hat trick of his career, powering the Tampa Bay Lightning to a commanding 5–1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
Darren Raddysh tallied a goal and two assists, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and helper of his own, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots as Tampa Bay continued its surge, improving to 9–3–0 after a slow 1-4-2 start.
Nico Hischier scored the lone goal for New Jersey, which welcomed back Dougie Hamilton, Connor Brown, and Evgeni Dadonov to the lineup. Jakob Markstrom made 24 saves but saw the Devils’ five-game point streak (4-0-1) end with their first regulation defeat since Nov. 2.
Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern stepped in as the acting head coach while Jon Cooper was away for personal reasons. Cooper, Team Canada’s head coach for the upcoming Olympics, last missed a game in December 2021.
Guentzel opened the scoring with a breakaway strike at 11:40 of the first period, then doubled the lead midway through the second by burying a power-play feed from Raddysh. He completed the hat trick at 7:48 of the third by tapping in a cross-ice setup from Kucherov at the left post — his third three-goal performance since joining Tampa Bay.
Kucherov also made franchise history, moving into third place on Tampa Bay’s all-time goals list with No. 366, scored in the final seconds of the first period.
Hischier cut the deficit to 3–1 late in the second, earning his 435th career point, which moved him past Mark Streit for the fifth-most points by a Swiss-born NHL player.
Up Next
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Devils: Travel to Florida to face the Panthers on Thursday.
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Lightning: Host Edmonton on Thursday.
