Pierre Dagenais scored three third-period goals in his first preseason game of the season as the New Jersey Devils rallied to beat Pittsburgh 4-2 on Thursday night.
Dagenais, replacing injured Petr Sykora on the Devils' top line with Jason Arnott and Patrik Elias, spent the last three seasons with the Albany River Rats in the American Hockey League.
The 6-foot-4 forward scored his first goal with 13:54 remaining, and Bobby Holik tied it with 5:41 left with his fourth goal. Dagenais put New Jersey ahead with 2:28 remaining and completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Dagenais had 34 goals in 69 games for Albany last season and added three goals in nine games for the Devils.
Elias assisted on all three of Degenais' goals, and Martin Brodeur and Jean-Francois Damphousse combined to make 21 saves for the Devils (4-1-1). Alexei Morozov had two second-period goals for the Penguins (1-2-1).