Devils Fall to Mammoth Despite Two-Goal Night From Evangelista

NEWARK, N.J. — The New Jersey Devils found themselves in an early hole, battled back twice and got a two-goal performance from Luke Evangelista, but ultimately could not overcome the Utah Mammoth in a 5-3 loss.

It took Utah just 10 seconds to earn its first power play when Timo Meier was whistled for high-sticking Jack McBain. The Mammoth capitalized on their third shot of the game, scoring with Brenden Dillon, Brett Pesce, Dawson Mercer and Cody Glass on the penalty kill.

New Jersey's first power-play unit of Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Luke Evangelista and Nico Hischier went to work with 15:49 remaining in the opening period but failed to generate a shot on goal. The Devils' second unit of Dougie Hamilton, Evan Rodrigues, Arseny Gritsyuk, Anthony Mantha and Meier produced three shots, but New Jersey remained scoreless on its first nine power-play opportunities.

The Devils finally broke through on a 5-on-3 man advantage. Evangelista scored his first goal of the season, with Jack Hughes and Bratt picking up the assists. It was Evangelista's first goal since joining New Jersey.

Utah answered early in the second period, regaining the lead less than two minutes into the frame. MacKenzie Weegar finished a play set up by Anders Lee and Mikhail Sergachev to make it 2-1.

Evangelista responded at the 6:31 mark, scoring his second goal of the night to pull the Devils even again. Meier recorded his first assist of the season.

The Mammoth reclaimed the lead later in the period when Nick Schmaltz scored to make it 3-2. Sergachev picked up his third assist of the night on the goal. Lawson Crouse then extended Utah's advantage to 4-2, putting the Devils in a two-goal hole once again.

Jesper Boqvist scored in his season debut to bring the Devils within one in the third period. Hamilton picked up his first assist of the season, while defenseman Declan Chisholm earned his first point as a Devil.

Former New York Ranger Vincent Trocheck put the game out of reach, scoring with three minutes remaining to give Utah a 5-3 lead.

"We knew what their game plan was," Evangelista said. "Obviously, they are a great rush team. They play with a ton of skill, a ton of speed, especially through the neutral zone, and obviously their power play is pretty lethal. They get one early there on the power play, kind of stings a little bit. We knew their game plan. They just executed it better, it was unfortunate we didn't get the result we wanted tonight."

The Devils, who own a record of 1-2-0 will host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. 

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