Jesper Bratt scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period as the New Jersey Devils surged past the Carolina Hurricanes for a 7-4 win on Saturday night.
Nathan Bastian netted two goals, Andreas Johnsson contributed a goal and two assists, while Michael McLeod and Pavel Zacha each added a goal and an assist. Jack Hughes also found the back of the net for New Jersey, snapping their three-game losing streak. Ryan Graves tallied three assists, and Dawson Mercer added two.
Jon Gillies, filling in for Mackenzie Blackwood, made 31 saves to earn his first win in four games since being acquired from St. Louis in December.
“He made some big saves. The start wasn’t ideal, but his puck play helped us break out effectively,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “He’d probably want a few goals back, but he made key saves when we needed them.”
Andrei Svechnikov and Josh Leivo recorded a goal and an assist for Carolina, while Ian Cole and Brady Skjei scored. The Hurricanes’ three-game winning streak came to an end.
Jack LaFontaine, making his first career start, stopped 31 shots for the Hurricanes.
“This is the NHL; there are a lot of good players,” Leivo said about LaFontaine. “He made many saves, and we didn’t support him well enough. He’s got a lot of hockey ahead of him.”
Bratt’s 11th goal of the season, with 1:41 left in the second period, gave New Jersey a 5-4 lead, their second lead of the game after trailing 2-0 and 3-2.
After Cole was penalized for holding Janne Kuokkanen, Hughes netted his 10th goal on a wrist shot during a power play with 7:09 left in the third, extending the Devils’ lead. Zacha scored his 10th just over a minute later, making it 7-4.
“We had a few players perform well, but not enough,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Credit to them, they played hard. We didn’t stick to our game plan.”
Leivo gave Carolina a 3-2 lead at 3:25 of the second period before McLeod tied it with his third goal nearly 5 1/2 minutes later.
Johnsson received a centering pass from Mercer and beat LaFontaine with 8:44 left in the middle period to give the Devils their first lead.
Skjei tied it again with 4:26 remaining in the period.
“It wasn’t our game. We need to get pucks behind their defense and play hard. We’ll learn from this,” Skjei said.
Svechnikov opened the scoring for the Hurricanes 2:20 into the game, and Cole doubled the lead 3:24 later.
Bastian scored twice in 1:40 late in the first period to tie it. His second goal and eighth of the season came on a slap shot from inside the blue line, beating LaFontaine.
“It feels awesome, especially coming back from two goals down,” Bastian said. We’ve struggled with that before, so it was great to see us come back and take control.”
Game Notes
- New Jersey D Ty Smith (upper-body) was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 19. D Colton White was recalled from the taxi squad.
- LW Teuvo Teravainen (lower body) participated in pregame warmups but was a game-time scratch.
UP NEXT
- Hurricanes: Host Vegas on Tuesday night.
- Devils: Host Los Angeles on Sunday night.
