In Newark, Kyle Palmieri‘s hat trick was good enough to help the New Jersey Devils get a point, but not good enough to get a win as the Devils dropped a 7-6 decision to the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tyler Johnson netted the game-winner with 1:16 gone in the extra session.
“Ryan McDonagh and (Ondrej) Palat made tremendous plays (on the winner),” Johnson said. “I kind of got lost in the slot, and everyone was just kind of down and out, and Ondrej made a great play to me. I was just able to put it in.”
Palat haf two goals in the win.
“When Ondrej has confidence, has the puck, and plays big, he’s my favorite player,” Johnson said. “I love playing with him and watching him play. He’s probably been our best player this season.”
Curtis McElhinney made 36 saves in the win.
“We’re kind of battling our own fans at this point,” Taylor Hall said. “We’re 1-for-3 on the power play and getting booed. It’s a tied game and we are getting booed. That’s a tough environment to play in, especially when you are home. I know when we are playing somewhere and their fans start booing, it’s a fun environment for the away team to play in.”
Jesper Bratt scored twice and Sami Vatanen added a single marker.
“We played two teams with a nothing-to-lose mentality the past two nights, and in a way that’s something we can adopt,” Kevin Shattenkirk said. “I think it’s a different season for a lot of these guys, including me. We’re not going to be the team they were last year, and the sooner we start to come to grips with that, I think we’ll get past the living-on-what-happened last year mentality, assuming that things are going to go our way.”
Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Mathieu Joseph scored for the Bolts.
“I thought the [Palat-Point-Johnson] line was great tonight,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They were on it all night and deserved everything they got.”
Jan Rutta also scored for the Lightning.
“I understand the fans’ frustration. After the game, if they are booing us losing, that’s fine. You want to feed off the energy of your crowd and not let it affect you, but sometimes it does,” Hall said.
[WATCH: All Lightning vs. Devils highlights]
Cory Schneider made 16 saves in the loss.
“I’m probably not going to say a whole lot,” Schneider said. “My teammates played well enough to win, and we deserved to win that game. We scored six goals and should win going away. The difference tonight was in net, so the game speaks for itself.”
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