Devils are in a hole and may have a goalie controversy brewing

TAMPA, Fla. — This isn’t the Keith Kinkaid the Devils were relying on during the stretch run of the regular season, and now they are in a hole.

Alex Killorn scored twice during a four-goal second period, helping the Lightning beat the Devils 5-3 on Saturday in Game 2 in the first round of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series.

The Atlantic Division champions scored three times in a 2:47 span in the second period, and the reeling Devils pulled their starting goalie after Killorn’s third goal in two games made it 5-1 with 6:48 remaining in the period.

Kinkaid, whose stellar play since January helped the Devils finish strong and claim its first playoff berth since 2012, yielded five goals on 15 shots. Goalie Cory Schneider came off the bench to help the Devils stay in the game with 10 saves, nine in the final period.

Devils coach John Hynes wasn’t ready to discuss whether he willchange starting goaltenders for the next game. Kinkaid was a big part of New Jersey’s success after Schneider went down with groin and hip injuries in January, earning the right to start his first playoff series.

“I thought Cory came in and played really well,” Hynes said. “I’m not going to speculate on whether we’re going to use him or not use him.”

Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay, which is up 2-0 in the series after going 0-2-1 against the Devils during the regular season.

Game 3 is Monday night at the Prudential Center in Newark.

The Devils have played well in spurts, overcoming slow starts to keep both games interesting.

“There’s a lot of good things in our game to like,” Devils leading scorer Taylor Hall said. “It’s a long series. They still have to win two more to put us out, and we’re going to battle on home ice to get that back.”

Hynes echoed that sentiment.

“We have to embrace the fact that we’re down 2-0,” Hynes said. “What I mean by that is we can say we had strong pushes in certain things, but I think we did take a step tonight. We have to win one game. We’ve got to play good once, and we’ve got to have that on Monday.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 41 shots, limiting the Devils to rookie Nico Hischier’s unassisted goal in the opening period, Sami Vatanen’s sixth career playoff goal late in the second, Blake Coleman’s third-period tally that trimmed Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-3 with eight minutes left.

“We did bend a little bit in the third but didn’t break, so it’s a good feeling to be up 2-0,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. “You’ve got to win the game. That’s the bottom line.”

Five players scored in the Lightning’s 5-2 victory in Game 1, with just one of the goals coming from the team’s top line of Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and J.T. Miller — Kucherov’s empty-netter with a little over a minute remaining.

Tampa Bay’s second and third lines once again did most of the damage, with Point scoring at 12:15 of the first period and Killorn, Johnson and Kucherov adding goals during a three-minute stretch of the second to build a 4-1 lead.
Both of Killorn’s goals came on power plays. Kucherov’s second of the series deflected off Vatanen’s stick into New Jersey’s net.

Vasilevskiy stopped 29 of 31 shots in the opener and was outstanding again Saturday, when New Jersey outshot the Lightning 44-25.

Hirschier was the Devils’ second-leading scorer during the regular season with 52 points, 41 fewer than Hall. At 19 years, 100 days, he became the youngest player in franchise history to score a playoff goal. … Lightning RW Ryan Callahan left the game late in the second period with an upper body injury and did not return.