Devils drop to the Penguins on 90's Night

For the first time this season, the New Jersey Devils were bested by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins stormed back to beat the Devils 4-3 after the New Jersey scored two goals in the opening 12:12 of the first period. New Jersey had entered their Tuesday night matchup with Pittsburgh with a 3-0-0 season record, and after a goal scored by Penguins Bryan Rust at 10:45 of the second period and Pittsburgh taking the 3-2 lead, it was only Miles Wood who would score - his seventh of the season - to get the Devils within one at 15:10 of the third period. New Jersey drop their final matchup of the season with Pittsburgh 4-3.
Here are 10 Takeaways from the game:
1. It was a milestone night for Travis Zajac who suited up in his 900th regular season game in the NHL, all with New Jersey. Zajac has been a regular with the Devils since his opening night debut of the 2006-07 NHL season and remains the only player on that opening night roster that continues to play for New Jersey. Zajac is creeping up the All-Time Games Played list for the Devils franchise. Zajac is alone with the sixth most games played and trails John MacLean for fifth all time (934 games played) and Scott Stevens' 956 games played for fourth all-time.

Zajac recorded a single assist in his milestone game. His single assist put Zajac into a tie with Bruce Driver (316) for seventh all-time in Devils franchise history.
On top of Zajac's 900 regular season games, the Winnipeg, Manitoba native has played in 57 career playoff games with the franchise.
2. Blake Coleman returned to the Devils lineup after a four-game stint on the Injured Reserve list. Coleman suffered an upper-body injury against Carolina last week and hadn't played since. Coleman lined up with Kenny Agostino and Joey Anderson on his wings to start the game against the Penguins.
3. It took 2:14 for the Devils to put themselves up by a goal on the Penguins. Jesper Bratt continues to add to his season totals with his seventh goal of the season. There was a lot of 'no-look' plays that connected, with Marcus Johansson's no-look pass crossing the ice to Bratt who barely had time to look where he was shooting when he took a one-timer from the right circle and put it past Penguins Matt Murray.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Born in 1���9���9���8���, it's 20-year Jesper Bratt with the opening goal on 9���0���s Night! pic.twitter.com/YeRCMyUKRm
For Bratt, the goal was his second in as many games and was assisted on by Johansson and Mirco Mueller.
4. All three players would connect one more time before the period was up. Johansson used his silky mitts to steal the puck from Pittsburgh's Phil Kessel in the Devils offensive zone to surprise Murray and take a 2-1 lead at 12:12 of the first period.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Mojo is a man on a MISSION. 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/TQCu10IcH1
Mueller and Bratt assisted the play, all three players with two points before the first period had completed.
5. For Mueller his two points was just the second time in his NHL career that he has had a multi-point game and his first as a member of the Devils. The Swiss-native's only other multi-point game came when he was a member of the San Jose Sharks on January 7, 2017 (1g, 1a).
6. By the end of twenty-minutes of play, the Devils and Penguins were all tied at 2-2. Two being a number that would resonate with Johansson, Bratt and Mueller - all three players had two-point nights, the only three players to contribute on the Devils' opening goals.
For Johansson and Bratt, the two points took them each up to seven points in their last six games.
7. Johansson lead his team in shots on goal with eight of the Devils 36 shots against Matt Murray. His eight shots ties a career high for shots in a single game.
8. Keith Kinkaid handled goaltending duties for the Devils after Cory Schneider made the last two starts. Kinkaid stopped 23 of 27 shots he faced against the Penguins, as he saw his record drop to 15-18-6 this season. When he let up the third Penguins goal to Bryan Rust scored at 10:45 of the second period, the goal gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead which marked the first time the Devils have trailed in a game against Pittsburgh this season.
9. After the power play failed to provide any offence going 0-for-2, it marked the first time in five games that New Jersey has not capitalized on their man- advantage. In their last six games, the Devils power play has gone 5-for-17.
10. Prudential Center had a very 90's-feel to it with the Devils celebrating 90's Night as part of this season theme-nights. A very special ceremonial face-off took place prior to the matchup against the Penguins with Patrick Warburton - who most would probably recognize as Puddy from Seinfeld - decked out in his characters full-face paint and Martin Brodeur jersey dropped the puck between captains Andy Greene and Sidney Crosby.
Tweet from @hockeynight: It's '90s night in Jersey so naturally Seinfeld's @paddywarbucks was there just supportin' the team. #DEVILSSS pic.twitter.com/uCCPdhObls
And in case you missed it, here was the open video for 90's Night that played in-arena for the fans on the scoreboard at the Rock:
Tweet from @NJDevils: This video is all that and a bag of chips. Tonight is the #NJDevils 90s Night! pic.twitter.com/IWhnUzTzh3