Bratt, Luke Hughes lead Devils to win over Blue Jackets

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists, Luke Hughes added a goal and an assist, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Paul Cotter also scored and Cody Glass had two assists to help the Devils win their second straight after losing four of five. Jacob Markstrom finished with 17 saves.

Mathieu Olivier scored twice and Kirill Marchenko also had a goal for Columbus, which has lost three of their last four. Elvis Merzlikins had 22 saves.

Hischier, Cotter and Bratt scored in New Jersey's three-goal first period before Olivier and Marchenko scored nearly four minutes apart in the second to pull Columbus within one.

Meier pushed the lead to 4-2 with 3:11 left in the middle period, and Hughes restored the three-goal lead 26 seconds into the third.

Olivier's second of the night made it 5-3 midway through the final period.

Takeaways

Blue Jackets: Despite the loss, the Blue Jackets still hold the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with five teams within five points.

Devils: New Jersey maintained its three-point lead over Ottawa for third place in the East.

Key moment

With the Devils' lead cut to one in the second period, Meier knocked away a pass by Dante Fabbro to start a rush going the other way. Meier then brought the puck up the right side into the Blue Jackets' zone and fired a shot past Merzlikins to push New Jersey's lead to 4-2 late in middle period.

Key stat

Hischier has three goals in his last six games to give him 27 on the season, matching last year's total and moving him four shy of matching his career high set in 2022-23.

Up next

Blue Jackets host Vegas on Thursday, and Devils host Edmonton.

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