NEWARK, N.J. _ The Devils found themselves in an unfamiliar position during the second period on Thursday night at Prudential Center: Playing from behind. If this was one of the Devils' first tastes of adversity, you could say they handled it well, but not well enough to remain undefeated.
Gabriel Landeskog registered a hat trick for the Colorado Avalanche and the Devils were handed their first loss of the season, 5-3.
Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier scored their first goals of the season and each tallied an assist. Kyle Palmieri extended his point streak to five games when he started a tic-tac-toe passing sequence that led to Hischier's power-play goal. Palmieri also assisted on Brian Boyle's third-period goal to register his fourth multi-point game in five tries.
Boyle broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal 6:22 into the third period but the lead wouldn't hold. Landeskog tipped in Ian Cole's point shot less than two minutes later, taking away all of the momentum the Devils had just gained.
With 3:22 left to play, Landeskog completed the hat trick to put the game on ice. Mikko Rantanen scored an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left.
After overwhelming teams with their speed and offense through four games, the Avalanche gave the Devils trouble right from the start. They generated a ton of offense to keep the, pinned in their own zone and thwarted their breakout attempts throughout a choppy, penalty-filled contest.
Hall tied the game at 2-all with a little over four minutes left in the second on a play set up by Drew Stafford, who came out of the box and pounced on a turnover in the neutral zone and sent it to Hischier as he skated back to the bench.
Trapped along the left boards, Hischier found Andy Greene skating through the circle and Greene dished to Hall for the one-timer from the slot.
Landeskog roofed one on the power play at 7:08 in the second to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead. This snapped the Devils' streak of 15 straight minor penalties killed and was just the second power-play goal allowed by New Jersey this season.
Landeskog's goal came about six minutes after a controversial call that resulted in Colorado's first goal. Keith Kinkaid appeared to have made a diving save on a sharp-angled shot by Sven Andrighetto but the call was overturned once replays showed the puck had crossed the goal line before going into the goalie's glove. The goal evened things up at 1-1, 1:17 into the second, setting the tone for a contentious period.
Hischier's highlight-reel goal came at 17:42 in the first period. With Matt Nieto in the box for hooking, Palmieri sent a cross-ice feed to Travis Zajac, sending goalie Philipp Grubauer to left. Zajac, seeing the open net, found Hischier right on the doorstep to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
