Connor Brown scored twice, while Nico Hischier and Timo Meier each tallied a goal and two assists, as the New Jersey Devils earned their first victory of the season with a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
Jesper Bratt added a short-handed goal, and rookies Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes each recorded a pair of assists to fuel New Jersey’s offensive surge. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 14 shots for the win.
Tampa Bay got goals from Darren Raddysh, Yanni Gourde, and Ryan McDonagh, but it wasn’t enough to avoid an 0-2 start — their first under coach Jon Cooper and the franchise’s first since the 2008–09 season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in defeat.
The Devils came out firing, scoring three times in just over five minutes midway through the opening period. Meier opened the scoring by cleaning up a rebound in front at 8:30, Brown doubled the lead on a redirect from Gritsyuk less than two minutes later, and Hischier made it 3-0 after his centering pass deflected off a Lightning defender and into the net.
Tampa Bay cut into the deficit in the second period when Gourde scored at 7:31, followed by McDonagh’s wrister with 2:37 left to make it 3-2 heading into the third.
The Devils quickly restored control early in the final frame. Bratt intercepted a Nikita Kucherov pass on a Lightning power play and converted a short-handed breakaway at 4:48 to push the lead back to two. Brown followed with his second of the night just 99 seconds later, effectively sealing the win.
Up Next:
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Devils: visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
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Lightning: head to Boston to face the Bruins on Monday.
