Zacha 3-20 PIT

NEWARK, NJ -The Devils split the first two games of a three-game series against Pittsburgh after falling to the Penguins, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon at Prudential Center.
New Jersey scored the game's opening goal thanks to Kyle Palmieri's fifth of the season, but the Penguins posted the next three in route to the victory.

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The Devils finish their three-game series against Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. You can watch on MSG+ and listen on the Devils Hockey Network,
including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com.
Game time is 1:08 PM ET.
Special teams turned out to be the difference in this contest, with the Devils finishing minus-1. Pittsburgh scored the game's lone power-play goal, and New Jersey failed on four man-advantage chances, including back-to-back opportunities halfway through the third period.
Devils head coach Lindy Ruff didn't mince words when asked what went wrong with the power play, which had scored in each of the previous three games.
"Execution, speed, determination," Ruff said. "I thought we were slow. We were slow coming up ice. We made plenty of bad decisions. Once we were inside, we didn't move it quick enough. We didn't generate lanes quick enough. Probably the end of it is we didn't support each other."
It was only a one-goal game in the third period, 2-1, when the Devils had those four minutes on the power play, and they'll look back at that missed effort as the moment when the outcome of this game could have been different.
"The power play, we have to be better," Palmieri said. "We have to make sure we're at least getting some momentum and getting good looks. I think the power play sucked a little life out of our team and the guys on it. And you can't have that.
"You have to find a way to generate something, whether that's momentum, goals, shots, good looks, energy, whatever it is. We just didn't do any of that."
Here are some other observations from the afternoon…
* The Devils appeared to have cut their deficit in the game to 3-2 with a goal with 1:54 remaining in regulation. The Penguins crease was filled with bodies and a pinballed puck. The puck eventually crossed the goal line. However, referee Gord Dwyer determined that the goal would be disallowed because he lost sight of the puck and had "intent to blow the whistle." The call stood following a brief video review.
"I felt that the play should have counted," Ruff said. "I watched it. I looked at a puck that was still loose I felt. The goalie (Casey DeSmith) batted it toward his glove hand that missed the glove hand, but the referee lost sight when it went under (Mark) Jankowski. That call sometimes can go your way or go the other way.
"I didn't hear the whistle before it went in. I thought we had a chance at that one, but I think he deemed he was in the process of blowing the whistle because he lost sight of it, but he lost sight of it because it was under their forward while he was in the crease."
* When it comes to missed opportunities, it wasn't just the power play that failed. In the second period the Devils had Pittsburgh pinned in its own zone for roughly 80 seconds. Most of the Penguins players on the ice had logged well over two minutes during that sequence.
The Penguins were drained, and yet, New Jersey failed to score. The Devils did a great job with possession and their passes to maintain that lengthy zone time, but that's a situation in which you need to score.
* Center Jack Hughes scored a ridiculous goal on Thursday by firing the puck from a nasty angle (along the goal line) off the helmet of goaltender Tristan Jarry and into a five-inch opening. It was a goal-scorers goal, and one that only a handful of players in the NHL can pull off.
Hughes was at it again Saturday afternoon. From the exact same side of the net, Hughes tried to bank a shot off the helmet of goalie Casey DeSmith. He was successful in hitting DeSmith's mask, but the puck caromed away from the goal this time.
The greats in the game not only have the imagination to try the impossible, but the skill to convert. There's no doubt in my mind that Hughes will continue testing this new weapon in his repertoire with regularity going forward.
* The maturation of 20-year-old rookie blueliner Ty Smith has been apparent all season long. It's always the little things in the game that count. And there was one sequence that speaks volumes of his progression.
Smith was backpedaling into his own zone as Pittsburgh forward Anthony Angello carried the puck. It became apparent that Angello would be able to get around Smith, so the Devils' D-man shifted his body around and accelerated to cut off Angello's angle to the goal. After gaining the inside track to the net, Smith leveraged his frame (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) into Angello's much bigger frame (6-foot-5, 210 pounds). Despite ceding six inches and 35 pounds, Smith was able to knock the puck free of Angello. And just for good measure, Smith drew a penalty on Angello behind the net.
* Rookie forward Nicholas Merkley got an opportunity to get back in the lineup with the lower-body injury knocking out Nathan Bastian. It was his first NHL action since Feb. 18 at Boston, and he made an impact.
Merkley was a noticeable force on the ice. The 23-year-old had a great one-timer opportunity late in the second period, but was denied by DeSmith. Early in the third period, Merkley used his speed and body to carry the puck through the blue paint, but wasn't able to finish.
He led the Devils in shots with five in the game.
"I really thought Nick had a good night," Ruff said. "He was in on two or three scoring chances, skated well, drove to the net hard, handled the puck well, made the plays that were there. He was one of our better players by the end of the night."