James Nichols
Well, the New Jersey Devils might have surrendered three leads, but they still came away with two points.
A back-and-forth afair between the Devils and Los Angeles Kings ended in victory when Jack Hughes sealed the deal with a game-winning power play goal in the third period.
The Devils opened the scoring on the stick of Cody Glass to take a 1-0 lead at 7:58 of the first period.
Arseny Gritsyuk gathered the loose puck at the right wall and fed Glass in the slot for a one-time chance, beating Anton Forsberg to give New Jersey the one goal advantage.
Three minutes later, Nico Hischier banged home a rebound created by Timo Meier to give the Devils a 2-0 lead in the first period.
New Jersey started the second period on the attack. However, Dougie Hamilton sent the Devils to an early penalty kill after he was whistled for interference.
On the Los Angeles power play, Anze Kopitar banged home a backdoor pass by Bradnt Clarke to cut the Devils lead to 2-1.
Just under two minutes later, Artemi Panarin tied the game, skating the puck to the slot and rifling it past Jake Allen to knot things at two.
The Kings made it three goals in a row, taking the lead at 11:43 of the middle frame. Clarke walked the Devils blueline with the puck on his stick and dished it to Taylor Ward above the left circle, who sniped a shot past Allen to give the Kings a 3-2 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Devils to tie the game in the third period.
Lenni Hameenaho led a rush toward the Kings zone and made a nifty move to beat the defense. The Finnish rookie fed Gritsyuk backdoor, and Gritsyuk batted in the puck which was in mid air to knott the game at three.
Quinton Byfield later was whistled for tripping, sending New Jersey back to the power play for the third time. Hischier made good on the man advantage, and the Devils regained their lead at 12:41 of the third period.
However, Hameenaho’s holding minor sent the Devils back to the PK, and Kopitar deposited his second of the night to tie the game at four.
Kopitar’s second goal of the night saw him break the Los Angeles franchise record in points, registering his 1,308th of his career.
The Devils reciecved another man advantage after Clarke was whistled for holding.
Hughes took no time to give the Devils their third lead of the night, sniping a goal off the fce-off draw to make it a 5-4 game in favor of New Jersey.
Meier depostied the empty-net goal to seal a 6-4 Devils victory.
Jake Allen made 27 saves on 31 shots, securing his 13th win of the season.
