"We were able to play the last two preseason games together and that helped us gain that chemistry," Zajac said. "Those guys are young and hungry. [Quenneville] wants to be here the whole year so he's going to be giving it every night. [Wood] is a good player, and teams are starting to take notice of his speed so he's continuing to push himself."
Palmieri gave the Devils a 1-0 lead 58 seconds into the first period on the first shot of the game, beating Talbot over the right shoulder from the left circle. Lucic tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal on a one-timer off a pass from McDavid at 4:01.
"It wasn't a good start," Lucici said. "I felt in the second period we were on our heels a lot and weren't moving our feet. We were kind of standing and watching, trying to make plays standing still. Sometimes it's good having a hard realization that this is now regular-season hockey."
New Jersey held Edmonton to 12 shots on goal over the final two periods.
"Limiting their time in the offensive zone and coming through the neutral zone by giving them the least amount of space we can was important," Palmieri said. "We did a good job of limiting time and space. We were smart and made them play as much as we could 200 feet from our net."
Devils coach John Hynes said they appreciated the experience of playing in Bern, Switzerland, and Sweden during the European trip.
"It was a unique opportunity for all of us to be in the NHL and be able to come to Europe and visit two beautiful cities, and the experience was excellent," Hynes said. "It was also nice that we were able to find a way to win the game."
