BOSTON _ Weirdness and another goalie injury got the best of the Devils on Tuesday night.
Cory Schneider left with a lower-body injury after two periods of a 3-2 loss to the surging Bruins at TD Garden. The Devils are already without backup Keith Kinkaid, on injured reserve because of a groin injury.
The Devils (24-15-8) put forth an effort worthy of a better result, but had to play most of the first period without defensemen John Moore and Sami Vatanen, and then defenseman Damon Severson missed time in the third period after blocking a shot. And with 1:59 left in regulation, Marcus Johansson exited after catching Brad Marchand's elbow to his face.
And the Bruins (28-10-8), on a 13-0-4 run, scored the winner on a five-on-three power-play goal during and after which confusion reigned in the building as to how many players should be on the ice and how much penalty time should be on the clock.
Also, linesman Devin Berg was injured early in the third period, leaving just three officials on the ice for most of the third period.
Schneider made 17 saves before rookie Ken Appleby, who stopped all 24 shots he faced in relief of Kinkaid in Saturday's 3-1 loss at Philadelphia in his NHL debut, stopped all four shots he faced from the Bruins.
The Bruins' Tuukka Rask matched a season-high with 37 saves.
Devils leading scorer and All Star Taylor Hall, as coach John Hynes announced on Monday he would, missed his second straight game with a hand injury though the Devils are hoping he'll return Thursday against the visiting Predators.
With Hall off the top line for the second straight game, Hynes moved No. 1 overall pick Nico Hischier off the top trio to centering Miles Wood and Stefan Noesen on the third line.
Veteran Travis Zajac was put in between Kyle Palmieri and rookie Jesper Bratt, giving Hynes a strong option to match up against the Bruins' dangerous top line of Patrice Bergeron in between Marchand and David Pastrnak.
Hynes was tight-lipped before the game, not wanting to divulge his line combinations before warmups.
And moving Hischier down in the lineup was noteworthy.
Hischier has played among the top six forwards since the start of the season and was moved to center Hall's top line in the season's sixth game.
Hischier's playmaking, though, meshed well with Wood's speed game and Wood gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 2:05 of the second period, the Devils' first five-on-five goal in 171:44 dating to Wood's goal at 10:55 of the second period of Thursday's 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Capitals.
The Bruins tied the game at 1 at 7:03 as Riley Nash's shot off defenseman Vanaten's stick floated up and over Schneider's glove from a sharp angle on the left.
Severson, off Johansson's feed, finished a three-on-two rush started by Pavel Zacha as the Devils regained a 2-1 lead at 9:03.
Then, it got strange.
Wood, responding to a check on Hischier, took both an interference and a cross checking penalty on Kevin Miller at 11:30 and Johansson's trip of Brandon Carlo at 12:03 led to Bergeron's five-on-three goal at 12:53.
Schneider was in clear discomfort after trying to stretch to make the save. A long delay followed as the officials, both on and off the ice, tried to re-set the scoreboard correctly after time kept being added to Wood's penalty.
Marchand, keeping the puck on a two-on-one rush, slid it past Schneider to the right post with 32.9 seconds left in the second period as the Bruins took a 3-2 lead.
Moore missed almost 10 minutes in the first period and Vatanen was absent for nearly 14 minutes after a hard check by Kevan Miller.
The Devils outshot the Bruins, 20-9 in the first period, the most shots the Bruins have allowed in a period this season.
