The Devils also closed out their 14th of 16 back-to-back sets. The club is 7-5-2 in first games and 6-8-0 in second games of back-to-backs.
Four former Ducks, Kyle Palmieri (2010-15), Patrick Maroon (2011-16), Sami Vatanen (2012-17) and Stefan Noesen (2014-17) recorded points for the Devils in the loss.
Kyle Palmieri opened the scoring for New Jersey, notching his 20th goal of the season, and ninth power play goal. Palmieri has reached the 20-goal plateau for the third time in his career and has reached that mark in each of his three seasons with New Jersey.
Patrick Maroon notched his 16th goal of the season in the second period. It was Maroon's seventh point in eight games with the Devils.
Sami Vatanen had an assist and led the Devils with 25:52 TOI in his first game back at Honda Center since being traded to New Jersey. Vatanen leads all Devils defensemen with 27PTS (3G-24A) in 47 GP with New Jersey.
Stefan Noesen chipped in with his 13th assist on Maroon's goal and has set career-highs in all offensive categories this season with 11 goals, 13 assists and 24 points.
Travis Zajac and Taylor Hall added assists on Palmieri's power play goal. Hall is three points away from matching his career-high of 80 points he set with the Oilers during the 2014-15 season.
Keith Kinkaid started his fourth consecutive game and stopped 32 out of 36 shots. He fell to 0-4-0 against the Ducks in his career.
TONIGHT at SAN JOSE SHARKS
The Devils will end the Western Conference portion of their six-game road trip, against the San Jose Sharks, in their second and final meeting in the 2017-18 regular season. New Jersey will face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday to close out their road trip. The Devils are 7-6-2 against the Pacific Division (2-1-0 on this trip) and 14-12-3 against all Western Conference opponents (3-1-0 on this trip).
New Jersey fell to San Jose, 3-0, in their first meeting on Oct. 20 at Prudential Center. It was the first time this season the Devils were shutout (also, four other times this season 11/16 at TOR, 12/2 at ARI, 1/22 vs. DET, 1/25 vs. NSH).
The Devils are 2-2-0 at SAP Center since the 2013-14 season and 9-7-1 overall at San Jose since their inaugural season in 1991-92.
Keith Kinkaid stopped 30 of 33 shots (.909 SV%) in his third start of the season. San Jose's Martin Jones turned away all 28 shots that he faced and improved to 4-1-0 with a .949 SV% and a 1.19 GAA in his career against the Devils.
Devils goaltender Cory Schneider is 4-6-2 with a .909 SV% and a 3.13 GAA in his career against San Jose.
Forward Taylor Hall leads the Devils with 11G-12A-23PTS in 27 GP in his career against the Sharks, while San Jose forward Joe Thornton has 50 PTS (20G-30A) in 43 GP. Thornton's 1.16 PTS/GP against the Devils is the third highest total against any team in his career. He only has a higher rate of production against the Vegas Golden Knights (2 PTS in 1 GP, 2.0 PTS/GP) and the Nashville Predators (62 PTS in 52 GP, 1.19 PTS/GP).
Mirco Mueller had 17:13 TOI in his first game against his former club after he was traded to New Jersey by San Jose, along with a 2018 5th round choice for New Jersey's 2nd round (Mario Ferraro, SJS) and 4th round (Brandon Crawley, NYR) picks in the 2017 NHL Draft.
Devils Assistant Coach Ryane Clowe was drafted by San Jose in the 2001 NHL Draft and recorded 271 PTS (101G-171A) in 423 GP in parts of eight seasons (2005-2013) with the Sharks, while Sharks Head Coach Peter DeBoer held the same position with New Jersey for parts of four seasons (2011-14)
