TAMPA, Fla. -- The longest road trip of the season is underway, and the Devils are back where the 2017-18 season ended.

In a rematch from the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Devils will kick off a seven-game road swing against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Amalie Arena.

The Lightning ended the Devils' season in Game 5 of their first-round series in April. Even though the Lightning got the edge in the postseason, the Devils finished 3-0-0 in the teams' regular-season meetings, including one win in Tampa.

Marcus Johansson will play after missing Saturday's 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers due to illness. Defenseman Ben Lovejoy was also activated off injured reserve, and he will enter the lineup. Eric Gryba was optioned to the AHL to make room on the roster.

Here's how the Devils will line up against the Lightning, plus notes and quotes heading into game No. 9.

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

FORWARDS

Taylor Hall - Nico Hischier - Kyle Palmieri

Marcus Johansson - Pavel Zacha - Jean-Sebastien Dea

Miles Wood - Travis Zajac - Blake Coleman

Brian Boyle - Kevin Rooney - Stefan Noesen

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

DEFENSEMEN

Mirco Mueller - Sami Vatanen

Andy Greene - Damon Severson

Will Butcher - Ben Lovejoy

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

GOALIES

Starter: Keith Kinkaid (8 GP, 5-2-1, 2.12 GAA, .925 save percentage)

Backup: Cory Schneider

Kinkaid will make his ninth straight start to open the season, while Schneider will back up for the first time after being activated from the injured list on Monday. Kinkaid won his only regular-season start against the Lightning in New Jersey last season, but he lost both of his postseason starts in Tampa.

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SCRATCHES

Forward: Joey Anderson (healthy)

Defenseman: Egor Yakovlev (healthy)

Goalie: Eddie Lack (in AHL on conditioning assignment)

On IR: F Jesper Bratt (broken jaw, skating/on road trip); F Drew Stafford (upper body, practicing); D Steven Santini (broken jaw)

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GAME NOTES

Here's more on the Devils entering their ninth game of the season, including more info on the Lightning, why Blake Coleman and Kevin Rooney have meshed on the penalty kill, why Kyle Palmieri is playing more like an elite player and more.

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Why Rooney fit right into PK

There was no hesitation when coach John Hynes he inserted Kevin Rooney right onto the penalty kill following his recall. from AHL Binghamton. In the two games the forward has played, Rooney has been a fixture on the special teams unit, and for good reason.

Prior to Rooney's first game, Hynes called him one of the best penalty killers in the organization. While it's just one of his areas of strength, Rooney does take pride in his ability to fend off opposing power plays.

"It definitely gives you a sense of confidence when the coach is saying something like that," Rooney told NJ Advance Media. "I've taken a lot of pride in it since I became a pro. I've studied it. It's something I really want to always get better at. I want to break down every power play I play against, and I even do that in Binghamton with Sergei Brylin. He's helped me a lot there, and now that I'm here, just trying to do the best that I can to help the team."

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Julio Cortez | AP Photo

During his couple of games, Rooney has paired with fellow forward Blake Coleman on the penalty kill, and it's allowed for a meshing of styles.

Both like to be aggressive to create offensive chances even while one man down, and that led to four shorthand goals for Rooney in the AHL last season, while Coleman finished with three in the NHL.

That style, plus some past experience playing together, made for an easy transition.

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"Our first year in Albany, he was just coming off an injury the year before, so it was really his first full year," Rooney said. "We got to kill a lot of penalties together there. We've seen each other before, and last year in Binghamton, we watched 80 percent of the games in Jersey. So I know how he kills, I know how he likes to kill. For me, it's easy to read off him, and he's really good at it."

The Devils led the NHL with 12 shorthanded goals last season, though the penalty kill hasn't struck for one through eight games this season.

That hasn't been for a lack of trying, though. Coleman has had a shorthanded breakaway in each of the past two games, but he was turned away on both attempts.

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

When the Devils have the legs to make some happen on the penalty kill, they're going to go for it. Coleman said Rooney only helps that cuase.

"He's just our style of killer. He's got really good speed and he's got good reads on the puck and knows where power plays like to do their damage," Coleman said. "He also studies the game well as far as being attentive to details on film, and then he's always had that reputation to be aggressive on the kill, looking to attack from time to time."

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Lightning stats

Record: 7-2-1 (15 points)

Last game: L 7-1 at Arizona Coyotes on Saturday

Expected goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy

The Lightning are coming off one of the most shocking results of the 2018-19 season so far, where the Arizona Coyotes handed them a 7-1 shellacking on the road. Expect a bounce-back game from the Lightning back at home after a West Coast trip.

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Ethan Miller | Getty Images

Devils' 2017-18 record vs. Lightning: 3-0-0 in regular season; 1-4-0 in postseason

Road record: 1-0-0 in regular season; 0-3-0 in postseason

The Devils' lone trip to Tampa in the regular season in 2017-18 turned into one of the team's most thrilling wins. Eddie Lack started that game with Cory Schneider on injured reserve, and Kinkaid was scheduled to play one day later at Carolina. Lack made 48 saves in a 4-3 win.

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Devils not looking too far into road trip

The sheer numbers of the Devils' current road trip can be daunting. Seven games in seven cities over 14 games, including one back-to-back. They do have the benefit of a brief return "home" with a road game in Brooklyn, which should allow the Devils to get a couple nights in their own beds.

But other than that, the Devils will be tasked with the usual challenges of a long trip. At this point, they're trying to focus on just Tampa.

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

"You can't think about the seventh game before you even start the trip. That puts a lot of wear on your mind already," Schneider said. "We just have to get one game at a time, break the trip up. I know we're coming back in between to play the Islanders, so hopefully that will break it up and make it feel a little less exhausting. But sometimes the road is where you simplify your game, and it's where as a team you cna come together and play some really good hockey."

On the Devils' longest road trip of 2017-18, the team used it to solidify their spot in the playoff race. A six-game trip ended with a 5-1-0 record last March.

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Chris Ryan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Devils need to maintain focus on identity

Following a pair of regulation losses earlier in October, the Devils reset and reestablished their game during a long week of practice between games. They focused on battling and winning pucks, and it helped them bounces back for a 1-0-1 record over their past two games.

The Devils were again working on battle drills on Monday during practice, trying to maintain that identity with the long trip coming up.

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Adam Hunger | USA TODAY Sports

"We're at our best when we're consistently outworking other teams," defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. "We have a lot of skill in this room, a lot of talent. But we are not a team that's going to drop the puck and outskill teams. One of our skills is work ethic, it's our forecheck, it's our speed. It's about outworking the other team, and when we consistently do that, we're a really hard team to beat."

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Why more of Palmieri's game has emerged

Kyle Palmieri's eight goals in eight games to start the season are the easiest way to highlight his hot start. Devils coach John Hynes is seeing a lot more than just scoring, though.

Palmieri's aggressiveness to work for the puck and using the physical aspect of his game has allowed the forward to stay engaged and make his impact felt. The Devils are seeing that side of him on a much more consistent basis this season.

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Kim Klement | USA TODAY Sports

"Kyle's shown some signs over the first few years of the way he's playing now," Hynes said. "The thing that's nice now is just the consistency level that he's playing with. Sometimes he's gone in situations where he's gotten really hot, played really strong, then he's veers off his game and it takes him a while to get going again. What you're seeing now is the guy we anticipated him being regularly.

"I think he understands that he's having a lot of success because he's playing the game a certain way, and I think that's another developmental thing for him, understanding he can be an elite guy in the league and be a game changer."

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MORE DEVILS COVERAGE

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WHERE TO REACH ME

Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.