NEWARK, NJ - A tough break in the first period proved to be the deciding factor in Sunday’s matinee between the New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks. An own goal was the difference, standing as the game-winner in Vancouver’s 2–1 victory.

Canucks newcomer Zeev Buium fired a first-period power-play shot wide, but it deflected off Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon’s stick and into the net behind Jacob Markstrom, giving Vancouver a 2–0 lead.

The Devils' penalty kill gave up two goals in the opening 6:48 against the Canucks, which made the ultimate difference in the game.

“It’s killer, we couldn’t have had a worse start, both in our play and how the game went,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I think there was three whistles in the first 40 seconds and we’re shorthanded and the puck is in our net and we’re down 1-nothing before half our team even touched the ice.”

“They made us pay right away,” Nico Hischier said of the early Cancuks power play goals. “They get the momentum and then another ones, and there we are two-nothing back already. But we reacted to it and we had a lot of chances to turn that game around.

After a slow start in the first, the Devils found their legs in the second and third. Luke Hughes made it a one-goal game in the second period, jumping off the bench and into the open ice to send a wrist shot past Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko.

New Jersey made a push in the final period, outshooting the Canucks 8-1, but in a game of inches, they were unable to find the equalizer.

“That’s disappointing,” Keefe said of the first period. “You can see in the second and third period, we’ve got our legs, we get ourselves going. Can’t wait. You wait, you lose.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• Special teams were a decisive factor in the first period, with five penalties called between the two teams. The game was effectively decided there, as the Canucks went 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Devils finished 0-for-2, including a 1:18 two-man advantage late in the period.

There were no penalties called in the second period and one in the third. New Jersey's power play went 0-for-3 against Vancouver.

“The first period was a lot of special teams,” Dillon said. “Just the PK, it’s really, really frustrating right now. It’s losing us hockey games like it did today.”

“We need to figure that out, it’s too many goals we get scored on the PK," Nico Hischier said. "Obviously, one is an unfortunate bounce. But at the end of the day PK has to come up big in some games, it’s not secret in this league that special teams is important. And on the flip side, the power play also got to give us one, at least one or two goals tonight and we maybe win the game.”

• Jesper Bratt's drop pass to Luke Hughes, who was jumping in on the play off the bench, went down as the primary assist on Hughes's third goal of the season. The point for Bratt, his 29th of the season, was also his 476th career point. That moves Bratt up the list, once again, in franchise history, to tie Scott Niedermayer for sixth most points in franchise history.

• The pass from Bratt to Hughes set up a perfectly timed play by Luke, who had jumped into the play right off the bench. Hughes skated into the open ice, with two of Canucks forwards caught down low. He unleashed his shot as Luke Glendening created the flash screen, with a jump in the air, on Thatcher Demko, to give Hughes his third goal of the season and second in three games.

• As they often do when searching for a spark offensively, the coaching staff adjusted the defensive pairings to put their offensive-minded defensemen together. The change came, as it tends to be, late in a period, with Luke Hughes skating alongside Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler moving on to a pair with Brenden Dillon as the second period wound down.

In recent games, assistant coach Brad Shaw had paired Hughes with Simon Nemec to spark offense from the blue line. That option isn’t available now, though, as Nemec has missed his second straight game after being injured in Friday’s practice. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said the 21-year-old is dealing with a lower-body injury and will be sidelined for more than a “day-to-day” period.

The regular pairings resumed at the start of the third period.

• Siegenthaler played in his 400th career game, 303 of which have been with the New Jersey Devils, over the last six seasons.

• This was the first game the Vancouver Canucks played since the trade of their captain, and older brother to both Jack and Luke Hughes, Quinn. Quinn was traded to the Minnesota Wild in a blockbuster deal earlier this week. One component of the trade was Vancouver acquiring defenseman Zeev Buium, who recorded a goal and an assist in the first period. Buium's goal was the deflection off of Brenden Dillon's stick into the net behind Markstrom for the 2-0 lead.