Here are some observations from the game:

• The Devils played a tight game against Vegas. It was a 1-0 game until Vegas scored twice in the final five minutes of regulation. But for the opening 55 minutes, the Devils were right there with the Golden Knights. They just couldn’t find a way to solve Schmid.

• Goalie Jacob Markstrom made several big-time saves in the opening period. However, a squeaker from Theodore got through the armpit of Markstrom with 12.7 seconds remaining in the first period.

It’s a goal that Markstrom wants to have back and it was a major difference in the game, as the score was 1-0 in the final minutes of the third period.

Markstrom: “I have to be better. It should be a 0-0 game coming into the last five minutes, but it’s not.”

Hischier: “We’re a team. We win together, we lose together. Markstrom had unbelievable saves in the second and first period. We have to get a goal for him. That’s what we have to do.”

• The Devils thought they took a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period when Timo Meier’s shot from the near wall hit something in front and sneaked through Vegas goalie Akira Schmid. However, the Golden Knights challenged the play for offside, and the officials waved off the goal following a video review.

Meier was the adjudged to be offside. He had possession of the puck, but it drifted from his stick at the blue line and his skates crossed over before the puck. Since it wasn’t on his stick, the officials ruled he didn’t have possession and therefore was offside. Had Meier maintained possession of the puck, the play would have been ruled onside.

• Vegas also had a goal disallowed as Pavel Dorofeyev got his stick on a puck and re-directed it into the net. However, the officials disallowed the goal immediately, adjudging that the deflection came from above the crossbar. A video review confirmed that a high stick was used and thus it remained a scoreless game at that juncture.

• For the second consecutive game, the Devils founds themselves with zero goals entering the third period. And for the second consecutive game, they shuffled their forward lines. They used the following triumvirates:

Palat – Hischier – Bratt
Meier – Glass – Mercer