Norwich clearly missed Darren Huckerby's presence on the left wing and, in his absence, Robert Earnshaw and Lee Croft looked short of support from the players around them.
With referee Andy D'Urso awarding free-kicks for the slightest nudge, Carl Robinson had every right to feel aggrieved in the last quarter of the game when he appeared to be pushed over in the Palace penalty area only for his penalty claims to be waved away.
The visitors started brightly with James Scowcroft and Paul McVeigh firing in early shots without finding the target.
Neither side looked like scoring until Michael Hughes brought a diving save from Paul Gallacher with a low 36th minute shot. At the other end Dickson Etuhu set up Earnshaw but the City striker fired hopelessly wide from a good position.
His next shot did however require a fingertip save from Gabor Kiraly even though Mr D'Urso gave a goal kick.
Three minutes into the second half Gary Doherty saw his header go inches over the Palace crossbar when he connected with Croft's right-wing cross.
Clinton Morrison had the ball in the net on the hour but not before he had controlled the ball with his arm, for which he was booked along with Youssef Safri and Kennedy for their actions following the incident.
Norwich had to scramble the ball away after 67 minutes when Gallacher could only block a header from Leon Cort. Three minutes later there was another scare for the Canaries when Cort's header was blocked on the line before being hacked away to safety.
Shouts for a City penalty for a push on Robinson were ignored my Mr D'Urso before Gallacher kept out a fierce drive from Jobi McAnuff as substitute Kuqi was left screaming for a cross.
However, as the game went into stoppage time, Kuqi's downward header from Kennedy's inswinging right-wing corner gave Gallacher no chance as it bounced up into the roof of the net.