Watch what happens when the New Jersey Devils score first?
Hosting the defending back-to-back champions, the Florida Panthers, New Jersey looked like themselves again in a 5–1 victory to start their seven-game homestand.
It was a slow start as the Panthers pressured Jacob Markstrom and maintained puck possession with five shots in the first three-plus minutes of the period.
However, the Devils tilted the ice back in their direction, opening the scoring on the stick of Arseniy Gritsyuk.
Connor Brown forced a turnover in the neutral zone as the Panthers attempted to transition to the Devils' end of the ice.
Gritsyuk picked up the loose puck, led an awkward run the other way with Jack Hughes, but opted to shoot and beat Sergei Bobrovsky for a 1–0 lead at the 12:10 mark of the first period.
20 seconds after the Devils scored, Carter Verhaeghe set up Jack in the corner behind the Devils' net. Panthers forwards got two minutes for boarding, while Brendan Dillon and Eetu Luostarinen got two minutes for roughing.
Jack surfaced after the boarding incident and remained safe in the game.
Anton Lundell equalized the score at one just as Dillon and Luostarinen came out of their respective penalty boxes.
A physical, playful game continued in the second period, however, as the Devils quickly separated themselves from the Panthers on the scoreboard.
Jack received a pass from Jasper Bratt in the Florida slot but sent the puck wide of the Panther net. Still, Dougie Hamilton was in the right place at the right time, as the rubber bounced off the end board and landed right in front of him for an easy tap-in, giving the Devils a 2-1 lead 1:35 into the middle frame.
About halfway through the second period, Cody Glass widened the gap by redirecting Lenny Haminaho's shot from the right point, scoring his 14th of the season to give New Jersey a 3–1 lead.
The third period proved that the ice was tilted in New Jersey's favor. Bobrowski made 10 saves in the final 20 minutes to keep Florida from a two-goal deficit.
However, this did not prevent the Devils from maintaining the majority of puck possession.
Paul Morrissey pulled Bobrovsky with about three and a half minutes remaining in the game. Dawson Mercer forced a turnover in the neutral zone and scored on an empty net to increase the Devils' lead to 4–1.
Simon Nemec added a second empty-net goal to solidify a 5–1 victory.
Markstrom recently had another strong performance, making 20 saves on 21 shots and earning his 17th win of the season.
