Panthers defeat Devils, spoil Green's debut as coach

NEWARK, N.J. -- The New Jersey Devils lost their first game under interim coach Travis Green, 5-3 to the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Green was promoted from associate coach to replace Lindy Ruff on Monday.

Nick Cousins scored two goals, Matthew Tkachuk had three assists, and Anthony Stolarz made 22 saves in his first start in three games for the Panthers (43-16-4), who won their sixth straight.

Florida, which won 4-2 at the New York Rangers on Monday, is 16-2-0 since Jan. 22 and became the first team to reach 90 points this season.

"We have a game plan each night and guys go out there and execute," Cousins said. "It's been a lot of fun coming to the rink. Everybody's pulling on the same rope, and we’ve got four lines that are contributing every night. It's different guys every night. I mean, when you do that, you have success, so it's a lot of fun right now. We’ve just got to make sure we keep it going."

Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, Jesper Bratt had two assists, and Akira Schmid made 26 saves for the Devils (30-28-4), who have lost three straight and four of their past five.

"I thought we showed more energy and were harder on pucks, but there were spurts when we were good at that and there were other spurts in the game where we weren't as good," Hughes said. "So, we'll have to continue to work on that."

Green said: "Our guys didn't have a lot of plays with the puck, and any time you don't pass the puck well and receive the puck well, it's really hard to get a lot of traction in your game. I thought we started to play a little better (in the second period) with the puck."

Cousins gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 2:54 of the first period, skating into a pass from Tkachuk inside the blue line and scoring with a backhand from the slot.

"I think that line (Cousins-Sam Bennett-Tkachuk) keeps getting better," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "They're holding on to pucks, reading off each other."

Evan Rodrigues pushed it to 2-0 at 6:30 with a one-timer from the high slot on the power play.

Hughes cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 11:45 of the first. His snap shot from the left point deflected off the stick of Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling and under the glove of Stolarz.

"I thought we played better, but just not the result we wanted," Hughes said. "They're a good team, so when you go down 2-0 early, it definitely puts you behind."

Timo Meier tied it 2-2 at 11:01 of the second period, splitting two Florida defensemen before scoring with one hand from the low slot.

Eetu Luostarinen put the Panthers back in front 3-2 at 12:37, scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot.

Cousins scored his second of the game on a redirection in the slot to make it 4-2 at 5:33 of the third period.

Colin Miller pulled the Devils to within 4-3 at 11:16 on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line.

"It's going to take a little bit of time to maybe get some of the things that [Green] is looking to implement," Miller said. "There were some good parts of the game with our compete stuff, and then some areas where we need to improve."

Sam Reinhart scored an empty-net goal at 19:52 for the 5-3 final. Aaron Ekblad got an assist on the goal, the 230th of his NHL career, which passed Robert Svehla (229) for the most by a defenseman in Panthers history.

"I'm just following in the footsteps of my captain (Aleksander Barkov) who does it on a nightly basis," Ekblad said. "It's been a fun 10 years in Florida, and I love it. I have a lot of pride in the jersey, and like to think I show that every single night. Obviously, it feels great, but there's a lot more to work on."

NOTES: Reinhart scored his 45th goal of the season, second in the NHL behind Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (53). It was also his sixth goal in his past four games. ... Maurice is the NHL's winningest active coach with 860 victories. He is four wins behind Ruff, who is fourth in NHL history. ... Meier has three goals in a three-game goal streak and five points (two assists) in a four-game point streak.