The foundations of Newcastle's recent successes have been built on their strong home form, which had seen them string together a five-match winning streak at St James' Park in the league.
And it looked as though the Magpies would carry that good form into Saturday's clash with Palace as they started the better of the teams.
Ritchie tested Guaita early on, however it was Rondon who was their chief threat. The Venezuelan could have scored a hat-trick in the first half alone had his finishing been more precise.
Rafael Benitez's side may feel hard done by as Miguel Almiron, Ayoze Perez and Rondon all spurned chances in the second period.
But for all Newcastle's efforts, and their 18 shots, Palace only needed one shot on target to take all three points.
The Magpies remain on 35 points having suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since January.
"These are the kind of games that leave you very disappointed. Every game is a final and every game we will try to get three points," Benitez told Premier League Productions.
"It's a game we can't believe we lost. With the chances we had and the control we had, we made too many mistakes in the last minutes. We had enough chances to win the game."