Despite letting a two-goal lead slip away early, the New Jersey Devils battled adversity to defeat the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Thursday night.
The Devils initially opened the scoring with goals awarded to Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, but were later credited with the goals again to Bratt (for the first goal) and Nico Hischier, respectively.
The Predators bounced back in the second period with goals from Reed Schaefer and Steven Stamkos.
Hischier added another run late in the third period, a deflection off a shot from Hughes restoring New Jersey's lead. Timo Meyer converted an empty netter in the last minute of the game to seal the victory.
Jacob Markstrom started in goal for New Jersey after consecutive games sitting on the bench behind Jake Allen. With the win, Markstrom moved to 22–16–1 on the year.
Justus Anunen played between the pipes, going 8-10-2 on the year in the loss.
Arseniy Gritsyuk was out of the lineup for the Devils after suffering an injury at the end of their previous game against the Dallas Stars. Evgeny Dadonov took his place on New Jersey's third line.
first period
The Devils came out of the gate outscoring the Predators 4–0 in the first five minutes of the game.
Enunen held strong in the early parts of the game and Nashville took the lead late in the contest. However, Markstrom and the Devils were able to hold off the attacks through the middle and end of the period.
That defensive resilience opened the door for New Jersey to take the lead before the end of the opening frame.
The Connor Brown-Hughes-Bratt line continued to be productive, Hughes fired a shot which Bratt deflected past Anunen for his 19th goal of the campaign. The first goal was scored in 1:58 minutes.
After 20 minutes the Devils led 1-0 and had a 9-6 advantage in shots.
second period
Once again, the Devils dominated the first few minutes of the period and outscored the Predators 6–1 over the opening 5:30.
The Devils used that momentum to double the lead at the 10:47 mark, with Hischier tipping a sharp-angle shot by Bratt into the top shelf.
However, that two-goal lead was short-lived, as the Predators responded by immediately scoring two goals in the next four minutes.
In the first, Nashville took advantage of a poor turnover by the Devils defense, allowing Schaefer to solo on Markstrom to cut the lead in half with 8:51 to go in the second.
Just 1:51 later, veteran Stamkos converted on back-to-back defensive zone giveaways from Simon Nemec and Hughes, tying the game just before the end of the period.
After 40 minutes, the Predators had tied the Devils 2–2, despite trailing 10–6 in the second frame and 19–12 after two.
third period
The third period was much more even than the previous two, with the Predators and Devils trading chances in the first ten minutes.
Nashville picked up its first and only power play of the game 3:27 into the period, but the best chance with the man-advantage went to Hischier, who could not find a way past Annunen on a rush chance.
However, the successful kill gave the Devils a second wind, tilting the ice back in their favor. Nashville took two penalties later in the third and New Jersey's pressure finally increased.
Hischier scored his second goal of the night and 26th of the season, on a Hughes shot on the power play with 5:53 minutes left.
The Devils defense closed things out late with a 3–2 lead, limiting the Predators to just two shots in the final five minutes of the game.
Meyer put away the game with an empty net goal in the final 33 seconds, scoring his 21st goal of the season to give New Jersey a 4–2 victory.
The Devils battled adversity late in the second period and ultimately earned their fifth win in six games. Not only that, but star center Hughes extended his point streak to seven games with two assists, bringing his total points in that span to 14.
New Jersey will conclude its road trip on Saturday night when it faces division rival, the Carolina Hurricanes.
With 76 points and 11 games to play, the Devils will need a miracle to reach the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But if they keep scoring points like this, they might be able to stay in the race for a little while longer.
The Devils are ten points behind the Ottawa Senators for the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
