Palmieri hat trick wasted in OT loss to Lightning

Tyler Johnson scored 1:16 into overtime and the Lightning negated a hat trick by the Devils’ Kyle Palmieri and rallied for a 7-6 victory Wednesday night at Prudential Center in Newark.

“Look I mean I am probably not going to say a whole lot,” Devils goalie Cory Schneider, who had 16 saves, said. “My teammates played well enough to win. We deserved to win that game and scored six goals and should win going away. The difference tonight was in net so the game speaks for itself.”

Johnson’s fourth of the season came from the inside of the right circle after Ryan McDonagh had a chance in close.

Among his three goals,

Palmieri scored the tying tally in the waning seconds of regulation and Jesper Bratt had two for the Devils. Sami Vatanen scored early in the third period for a 5-3 lead.

It looked as if Tampa Bay was headed for a win in regulation when Ondrej Palat broke a 5-all tie on a turnaround shot from the right circle with 3:57 left.

But Palmieri forced overtime by scoring on a rebound with 7.4 seconds to play. It was his first hat trick with the Devils and the second of his career.

Palmieri, Bratt and Vatanen scored three straight goals to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead in the opening minute of the third period.

Palat scored twice for the banged-up Lightning, who avoided their first threegame losing streak since late March 2018 and Curtis McElhiney made 36 saves.

Devils forward Taylor Hall was annoyed after the game with his team’s fans. He said he feels the Devils are battling those fans after a 2-5-3 start.

“We’re 1-for-3 on the power play and getting booed,” Hall said. “It’s a tied game and we are getting booed. That’s a tough environment to play in, especially when you are home. I know when we are playing somewhere and their fans start booing it’s a fun environment for the away team to play in. I understand the fans’ frustration. After the game if they are booing us losing, that’s fine.”