Devils Lose First Game in OT This Season | GAME STORY

The Nashville Predators had a 2-0 lead disappear in the second period, where the Devils took a 3-2 lead on goals by Kevin Bahl, Jesper Bratt and Alexander Holtz.
The Devils were able to protect their lead until there were 8.4 seconds left in the game when the Predators scored off a rebound to tie the game at three sending the game to overtime, where the Predators scored in the opening minute of the overtime period to defeat the Devils.
New Jersey lost for the first time in overtime this season, after a 4-3 loss to Nashville.
"It comes down to our starts," Brendan Smith said after the game, "We keep giving and spotting two goals. It makes it tough. I give the guys credit, coming back, playing hard and playing our game but it's hard to do that when you spot a team two."
Before the game ended up in overtime and before the Predators tied the game, the Devils had an opportunity to put the nail in the coffin in the final three minutes of the game when they were handed a power play. But a lack of execution on the man advantage was nowhere near where Lindy Ruff thought it should have been, even with two defensemen on both units.

"Even though we put an extra defenseman out there, the mindset is go for the goal," Ruff said of adding John Marino on the final power-play. "I didn't like what we did. Nobody did. We kept going to Marino and we wanted to attack, we wanted to score but at the same time, we were going to be smart by having two defensemen on both units. So execution there wasn't what we wanted."

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The Devils are on the road in Philadelphia on Saturday night to face the Flyers.
Here are some observations from the game:
- The first periods have been giving the Devils trouble all season long, but tonight against the Nashville Predators it wasn't just the first period it was the first 11 seconds.

Vitek Vanecek let up a rebound on a Ryan Johansen shot, which he beat Jonas Siegenthaler to, and slipped the puck past Vanecek's skate and the goalpost.

The goal was the quickest goal to start a game the Devils have given up this season. Their previous fastest goal conceded was just a game ago when Artemi Panarin scored at the 1:20 mark.  

The first period was capped off by a last-minute goal against, bookending the first period and the Devils putting themselves in a 2-0 hole to enter the second period. - Miles Wood was absent from tonight's game, his absence was announced during warmups, for undisclosed reasons. That forced the club to go 11-forwards and seven defensemen with no extra forwards on the available roster.

Kevin Bahl was inserted into the lineup, his first game with the NHL club since Oct. 24.

There clearly wasn't a better time to get Bahl into a game because he was the one who started the ball (no pun intended) rolling for the team scoring with a shot through the slot in to open the second period.

His goal would open the second-period floodgates for New Jersey, scoring three goals in the opening 4:35 of the second period.

- It's no wonder that captain Nico Hischier has proclaimed the second period 'our period this season', tonight they certainly showed why digging themselves out of a 2-0 hole and took the lead in the span of 4:35. - Jack Hughes had two assists in a 33-second span, assisting on both Bahl's 5-on-5 goal and the following goal, scored by Jesper Bratt on the power play. - Alexander Holtz has had to remain patient, he has been working the extra hours before and after practice to get his game to a level he needs to find his stride at the NHL level. One game doesn't make a season, but to see Holtze score on the Devils' power play in the second period, from the spot he so often at other levels of hockey has made his home in the right circle. Tonight was the night at the NHL level, scoring his first power-play goal, and second career NHL goal, to give the Devils the lead for the first time against the Predators.

Just look at the emotion on his face when he celebrates. It has been another season of learning and developing and with the Devils shorthanded without Nathan Bastian and Miles Wood, it opened up a spot for him on the power play.

It's all about taking advantage. - The Bratt and Holtz man-advantage goals mark the first time this season the Devils have scored two power-play goals in a game this season. On 14 other occasions, they have scored one powerplay goal in a game, and there have been nine games this season where they haven't converted on their man advantage at all. - All three goals were scored in the opening 4:35 of the second period, but all three came in under a three-minute span. All three goals in the second period, the one that cut the Devils deficit to 2-1, the tying goal and the go-ahead goal all came in a span of 2:38. - Three goals in the third period put the Devils at 37 second-period goals this season, which ranks first in the National Hockey League. - Erik Haula recorded his first two-point night for the Devils with assists on both Bahl and Holtz's goals.