The New Jersey Devils are dead.

Just a season removed from finishing in the basement of the Eastern Conference, the Devils sneaked into the playoffs this year as an unlikely No. 8 seed. Unfortunately, that second wild-card spot meant that they had to go up against the East's top dog in the Tampa Bay Lightning, who made quick work of New Jersey in five games. 

Let's take a look at where things went wrong for the Devils. 

Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning's front-end talent

Heading into this series, one of the draws was the matchup of MVP-caliber forwards in Tampa's Nikita Kucherov and Jersey's Taylor Hall. That matchup lived up to the hype, as both players had great series for their respective teams.

But Kucherov was particularly great, scoring five times (all at even strength) and notching 10 points -- a new playoff series record for a Lightning player, despite only playing five games.

Kucherov, who finished third in the NHL with 100 points this year, is lethal with the puck on his stick and is a major weapon in Tampa's attack. He also seems to consistently deliver tremendous performances in the playoffs, as he's got 52 points in 50 career postseason games for the Lightning, including 27 goals. He'll have a chance to add to that total in the next round.

Of course, he had some help from some of Tampa's other front-end talent. Steven Stamkos had a goal and six points and was a plus-four (tied for a team high) in the series. J.T. Miller added a goal and four points as well.

For as well as Hall played (two goals and six points), he didn't get a ton of help from the top of the Devils' lineup. Kyle Palmieri was the next-best forward in terms of point total with a goal and three assists. But Palmieri, along with rookie center Nico Hischier and veteran defenseman Andy Greene, were a team-worst minus-four.

Simply put, the Lightning's top talent both outnumbered and outperformed the Devils' top talent.

Early goaltending issues

Goaltending was a case of good news and bad news for the Devils in this series. The good news: Cory Schneider was surprisingly great! The bad news: He didn't get his first start until Game 3.

Keith Kinkaid, who took over as starter in net midway through the season following an injury to Schneider, struggled in the early going. In his first bit of playoff experience, Kinkaid gave up nine goals with a save percentage of just .804 through a game and a half. He just wasn't good enough to withstand the Lightning's high-powered attack.

Schneider, on the other hand, was awesome. He entered Game 3 not having won a game since December 27, but he made 34 saves in that contest to help New Jersey secure their lone win of the series. He finished with a .950 save percentage in three and a half games.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the Devils probably should have gone with Schneider to start the series. Kinkaid's performance helped put them in an early hole, especially considering Andrei Vasilevskiy (.941 save percentage) was great on the other end.

Special teams

If the Devils were hoping to pull off a shocking upset against the superior Lightning, they were going to have to take advantage on special teams.

The Lightning finished the regular season with the fourth-worst penalty kill in the league, so the Devils could've found a little offensive boost with the man-advantage in order to keep pace with Tampa. Unfortunately for the Devils, they didn't take advantage. They converted on only three of their 19 power plays.

Meanwhile, the Lightning's power play unit -- ranked third in the league during the regular season -- struck five times in 19 opportunities.

Tampa was always going to be the more fearsome offensive unit at 5-on-5, but the Devils' didn't do enough with their chances on the power play to close that gap. They just couldn't afford to let the Lightning be better in that department.

Blue line play

Tampa Bay's top four of Victor Hedman, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh and Anton Stralman were all really good in this series. The offensive contributions from rookie Mikhail Sergachev were an added bonus.

The Lightning rely on Hedman -- a finalist for the Norris Trophy this season -- to be a pillar for their defensive unit, and he delivered. He didn't get on the scoresheet at all, but he averaged 26 and a half minutes of ice time in a series that didn't go to overtime once. He finished a plus-two.

He's the sort of elite defenseman that are usually considered necessary to make a serious run at a Cup, so Tampa is hoping that he'll be able to turn in more performances like this (plus some offensive contributions) as he continues to be matched up with the other team's top forward talent.

Meanwhile, the Devils don't really have a true elite shutdown guy who can gobble up minutes and stifle opponents. Sami Vatanen is arguably the closest thing to that for them, but he was knocked out of action in the first period of Game 4 thanks to a controversial hit from Kucherov.

The Lightning had an edge on the blue line to begin with, but the Devils being forced to play nearly two games without one of their best defensemen was a crushing blow.

The Lightning were just better 

It's hard to walk away from this series feeling too sad or bitter if you're a Devils supporter. They were significantly outmatched in this series, but proved to be pretty scrappy and took a game.

For a team just a year removed from finishing dead last in the Eastern Conference, and going up against the best team in the East, that's a building block. They're not ready just yet, but they managed to get some playoff experience for a handful of key guys who had never been there before. They also got a firsthand look at a legitimate Cup contender and what they'll need to work on to become (and beat) one.

The Lightning were the straight-up better team, and this series played out like most people expected it to.