NEWARK, N.J. _ The Devils were humbled and then they were challenged.
On Tuesday night, they responded.
The Devils, with one of their most complete efforts of the season, snapped their two-game losing streak by snapping the Pacific Division-leading Kings' eight-game winning streak in a 5-1 victory on Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
Taylor Hall scored two goals for the Devils (17-9-4) and Cory Schneider made 16 saves in a personal bounce-back performance. Hall did retreat to the Devils' locker room late in the game after taking a knee to knee hit from Kurtis MacDermid at 7:16 of the third period.
"I think everyone understands what needs to be done to get it fixed," Devils coach John Hynes said.
Of course, Hynes putting his team through an intense practice on Monday focused heavily on puck battle drills helped get his team's attention. So did calling out their play as "soft" and "loose" after Saturday night's 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The night before, the Devils had fallen out of first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-3 loss to the visiting Blue Jackets as Schneider allowed five goals on 19 shots over the final two periods after the Devils had taken a 2-0 lead.
Veteran center Brian Boyle had called the Devils "fragile" for how they did not respond to the Blue Jackets' push.
Jonathan Quick stopped 21 shots for the Kings (20-9-3).
It marked the first time in eight games the Devils have outshot the opposition.
Torrey Mitchell, at the crease, deflected Alec Martinez's shot through traffic to spoil Schneider's bid for his second shutout of the season and cut the Devils' lead to 4-1 at 12:04 of the third period.
The Devils had allowed five goals in three of their previous four games.
"It's not something we want to do," Schneider said. "Scoring goals is nice. Being offensive gifted is great. But we want to be known as a team that defends well and has good goaltending. We all have to be better. We know it's a group effort."
Brian Gibbons, with his team-leading 12th goal, made it 5-1 shorthanded with 10.9 seconds left.
As they did against the Blue Jackets, the Devils played a composed, smart first period that yielded the same 2-0 lead they had on Friday night after 20 minutes.
The Devils went ahead 1-0 at 13:44 by doing exactly what Hynes has been imploring them to do _ create net-front traffic. Travis Zajac was in position at the left post to quickly pop in the puck after Brian Gibbons flung it at the crease on a sharp angle from the left and Quick knocked it in front.
That marked just Zajac's second goal _ and point _ in his 13th game since returning from offseason surgery to repair a torn left pectoral muscle. Hynes again had him centering a new trio, with Blake Coleman skating on the left wing with him and Gibbons.
Hall's power-play goal from the left circle at 16:14 off rookie Jesper Bratt's cross-ice feed made it 2-0.
Unlike Friday, the Devils were not fragile with a two-goal lead.
The second period developed as a deliberate territorial battle until the Devils doubled their score within one minute, 22 seconds.
Hall stripped defenseman Jake Muzin of the puck in the Kings' zone and sent a backhander through Quick's pads for a 3-0 lead at 15:42 of the second period.
The Devils then maintained offensive zone pressure, won two straight faceoffs in the Kings' zone and Boyle, with his fifth goal in nine games and his sixth of the season, ripped a shot through Quick's pads from the left circle for a 4-0 lead at 17:04.
Quick had made his best save at 9:05 of the second period, sliding to his right to get a pad on Bratt's shot from below the left circle off Hall's feed on the rush.
