To launch themselves into the playoff race, the Devils are going to have to figure out again how to win consistently at home.
And, to win consistently at home, the Devils are going to need to score on the power play with more regularity.
February is a bellwether month for the Devils with nine of 11 games at Prudential Center leading into the March 1 trade deadline.
Which is why this single point was so unsatisfying.
The Flames rallied for a 4-3 overtime win over the Devils on Friday night at The Rock as TJ Brodie, with his fourth assist, set up Mikael Backlund at 1:13 of the extra five-minute period.
The Devils (21-21-10) have now lost seven straight (0-5-2) at home and are in a 1-7-2 skid at Prudential Center.
Cory Schneider made 34 save for the Devils, who scored three straight in the second period and took a 3-2 lead into the third period. Two of those goals came on the power play as the Devils, who came into the game ranked last in the NHL on the man advantage, went 2-for-3 on the power play.
The Devils now sit six points out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Brian Elliott made 26 saves for the Flames (27-24-3).
Captain Andy Greene returned to the Devils’ lineup and Joseph Blandisi, called up from Albany (AHL) on Thursday, was also inserted.
Greene was back in the lineup after missing 12 games with an injured left arm as he was hit by Jordan Staal’s shot at Carolina on Jan. 3. That snapped his ironman streak of 350 consecutive games played, the third longest streak in Devils’ history.
“It kind of feels like the beginning of the year all over again,” said Greene, who was used on a top pair with Ben Lovejoy and saw time both on the power play and the penalty kill. “I expect a high (level) of things out of me.”
The Flames took a 1-0 lead at 17:15 of the first period, three seconds after Devils defenseman Ben Lovejoy exited the penalty box for a holding-the-stick infraction, as Sean Monahan scored his 10th goal in 11 games, beating Schneider over his right shoulder and just under the crossbar.
The exhausted Devils’ penalty kill unit of Greene and fellow defenseman Kyle Quincey and forwards Sergey Kalinin and Adam Henrique had been on the ice for the majority of the power play and were unable to clear the puck.
Kyle Palmieri was called for interference at the buzzer in the first period after knocking Troy Brouwer into the Flames’ crease on an odd-man rush – Brouwer went unpenalised for going after Palmieri and shoving him from behind – and Kris Versteeg turned that into a 2-0 lead with his power-play goal from the right circle just 22 seconds into the second period.
That’s when the Devils turned the game in their favor and into one of their best periods of the season, with numerous opportunities before Henrique stuffed it in at the right post at 8:36 with Elliott coming over slowly after tracking Wood to his right behind the crease.
Pavel Zacha’s power-play goal at 11:39 of the second period tied the game at 2 as the rookie got to the left post and knocked in the rebound of Henrique’s initial shot off the backboards.
And Palmieri completed the three-goal second period with a second power play goal for the Devils as Taylor Hall’s shot from the left ricocheted off Miles Wood, creating a screen at the crease, and then knocked in off the shaft of Palmieri’s stick for a 3-2 lead.
But Matt Stajan, deflecting in Brodie’s feed from the right, pulled the Flames into a 3-3 tie at 7:22 of the third period.

RESULTS
Penguins 4 Blue Jackets 3 (OT)
Flames 4 Devils 3 (OT)
Hurricanes 2 Oilers 1
Panthers 2 Ducks 1
Red Wings 5 Islanders 4