Jack Hughes had two goals and one assist to pace the New Jersey Devils to a 5-3 win against the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon in Newark, N.J.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist, Connor Brown scored short-handed and Jake Allen made 27 saves for New Jersey, which has won four in a row. The Devils defeated both 2025 Stanley Cup finalists in a three-day span.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two goals, Curtis Lazar also scored, Connor McDavid had two assists and Calvin Pickard made 18 saves for the Oilers, who have lost two in a row following three straight wins to open the season.
The Devils opened the scoring at 8:07 of the second.
Brett Pesce chipped the puck off the wall in the neutral zone to Hughes, who split three Edmonton defenders after he entered the Oilers zone with speed and then clanked his wrist shot off the inside of the right post to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
New Jersey went on its second power play after Devils forward Nico Hischier was pulled down by Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm on a partial breakaway.
Hischier then won the faceoff to start the man-advantage and the puck went to Bratt alone in the slot. He faked a shot to get around Oilers defenseman Ty Emberson and then scored with a backhand to extend the lead to 2-0 at 16:02 of the second.
The Oilers cut the deficit in half before the end of the period.
McDavid took possession of the puck in the corner of the New Jersey zone, skated to the top of the right circle and fed a pass to Nugent-Hopkins, who scored from the left hashmarks to trim the lead to 2-1 at 18:16.
McDavid extended his season-opening point streak to five games (seven assists).
The Oilers went on a power play just past the midway point of the third period, but it was Brown who scored on a short-handed breakaway to make it 3-1 at 10:37.
New Jersey then forced a turnover in the Edmonton zone and Hughes scored from in close to extend the lead to 4-1 at 12:33.
Nugent-Hopkins scored again in the closing minutes to cut it to 4-2, but Dawson Mercer took advantage of an empty net at 18:53 before Lazar scored with one second left for the 5-3 final.
–Field Level Media
