NEWARK, N.J. _ Adam Henrique, acknowledging the standing ovation from the Prudential Center crowd chanting his name and the emotional video tribute to his best moments with the Devils, smiled and hopped over the boards, skating with his stick raised and tapping his heart.
The ex-Devil fan favorite had a goal and an assist for the Ducks in his first game against his former team and defenseman Sami Vatanen, acquired for Henrique, countered with an assist for his first point since the trade. It helped the Devils, who twice trailed by two goals, rally for a 5-3 win over the Ducks on Monday night with three, third-period goals as they welcomed back leading scorer Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri back into their lineup.
Stefan Noesen and Miles Wood scored twice for the Devils (19-9-5), two games into a season-high six-game homestand, Cory Schneider made 21 saves and Brian Boyle had three assists on his 33rd birthday.
Noesen, the ex-Duck also playing his first game against his former team, scored the winner at 15:53 of the third period by converting the rebound of his initial shot and added an empty-netter to clinch it 6.6 seconds remaining.
Ryan Miller made 29 saves for the Ducks (14-12-8).
The Devils sent Henrique, Joseph Blandisi and a third-round pick in the 2018 NHL draft for Vatanen and a conditional third-round pick on Nov. 30. The teams also play March 18 at Anaheim.
"It's definitely weird," said Palmieri, acquired from the Ducks for the 2015-16 season, of what it's like to face a former team for the first time. "It's a little different when you're going back to your old building like Adam is tonight. It's weird walking over to the visitor's side and things like that. They practiced here yesterday and we spent some time with him."
Hall returned after missing two games with a right knee contusion and Palmieri, activated off injured reserve earlier in the day, broke his right foot blocking a shot on Nov. 20 and missed 12 games. Palmieri had previously missed six games with an ankle injury.
Rookie Jesper Bratt, moved off the top line to start the game so coach John Hynes could reunite Hall and Palmieri with No. 1 overall pick, was back on Hischier's right wing to start the third period and he tied the game at 3 at 5:49 of the final period as he exited the penalty box and connected from the left circle on the rush.
The video tribute came at 6:28 of the first period and highlighted Henrique's six-plus seasons with the Devils and his off-ice charity work, culminating with his overtime winner in the decisive Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference final against the rival Rangers and then the words, "Thank You Rico."
Henrique increased the Ducks' lead to 3-1 at 11:21 with a great individual effort, popping the puck into the air and past Vatanen at the Devils' blue line, then rushing past the defenseman and getting to the crease to beat Schneider.
Wood's first goal came when he deflected Vatanen's blue-line shot for a power-play goal to cut the Ducks' lead to 2-1 at 8:11 of the second period.
Wood again made it a one-goal game by circling to the right, taking a pass from Pavel Zacha, and beating Miller to the short side with a wrist shot the goalie should have stopped at 18:16 of the second period.
The Ducks opened the scoring immediately after the video tribute to Henrique, winning a defensive zone faceoff _ the Devils lost 12 of 17 faceoffs in the first period _ with the breakout developing into an odd-man rush. Rickard Rakell got the puck to Ryan Getzlaf and Getzlaf's shot dribbled through Schneider from the right circle at 6:44.
Schneider, who gave up two goals on the Ducks' first four shots, had no chance as Jakob Silfverberg beat him over the glove from the slot on a three-on-one rush to make it 2-0 at 10:30.
Henrique, standing just in front of his crease, started the sequence with a long outlet pass to Andrew Cogliano along the left boards in the neutral zone.
