The New Jersey Devils spent much of the night digging out of a hole, and every time they clawed back, Utah had another answer.
Luike Evangelista did his part with a two-goal performance, but the Devils still came up short in a 5-3 loss to the Utah Mammoth in Newark, N.J.
Utah wasted no time setting the tone. Just 10 seconds into the game, Timo Meier was called for high-sticking Jack McBain, sending the Mammoth to an early power play. Utah cashed in on its third shot of the night, with Brenden Dillon, Brett Pesce, Dawson Mercer and Cody Glass on the penalty kill.
New Jersey had chances on the power play in the opening period, but nothing came of them. The Devils’ first unit of Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Luke Evangelista and Nico Hischier couldn’t get a shot on goal with 15:49 left in the period. The second group - Dougie Hamilton, Evan Rodrigues, Arseny Gritsyuk, Anthony Mantha and Meier - managed three shots, but New Jersey still went scoreless and later finished the night 0-for-9 on the power play.
Utah pushed back quickly in the second period. Less than two minutes in, MacKenzie Weegar buried a play created by Anders Lee and Mikhail Sergachev to put the Mammoth back in front at 2-1.
Evangelista answered at 6:31, scoring his second of the game to tie it again. Meier picked up his first assist of the season on the goal.
The back-and-forth kept going. Nick Schmaltz restored Utah’s lead later in the period, and Sergachev collected his third assist of the night on the play. Then Lawson Crouse stretched the Mammoth advantage to 4-2, leaving the Devils chasing once more.
New Jersey got within one again in the third when Jesper Boqvist scored in his season debut. Hamilton earned his first assist of the season, and defenseman Declan Chisholm recorded his first point as a Devil.
But Utah shut the door late. Former New York Ranger Vincent Trocheck scored with three minutes left to make it 5-3 and put the game away.
"We knew what their game plan was," Evangelista said. "Obviously, they are a great rush team.
They play with a ton of skill, a ton of speed, especially through the neutral zone, and obviously their power play is pretty lethal. They get one early there on the power play, kind of stings a little bit.
We knew their game plan. They just executed it better, it was unfortunate we didn't get the result we wanted tonight."
The Devils are now 1-2-0 and will host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
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