Hughes notches 2nd hat trick of career as New Jersey rolls
Jack Hughes scored his second career hat trick to lead the New Jersey Devils over the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Saturday night.
Tyler Toffoli and Nico Hischier each had a goal and an assist, Erik Haula also scored, and Jesper Bratt added three assists to extend his point streak to seven games.
“This was a rematch to get back on track and playing good hockey against this team,” Bratt said. “The last couple of games we've been playing very solid, especially on the road, and we wanted to bring that today.”
Akira Schmid stopped 23 shots for the Devils, who won their second in a row and for the eighth time in 10 games to jump over Washington for fifth place in the Atlantic Di- vision.
Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov and Alexandre Texier scored and Daniil Tarasov stopped 23 shots in his first start this year for Columbus, which has lost five of its last seven games.
New Jersey took charge early, with Hughes scoring 47 seconds into the game after Toffoli intercepted Johnny Gaudreau's outlet pass. The goal was the fastest of Hughes' NHL career, beating his previous record of 54 seconds set March 1, 2022, against Columbus.
“We talked a lot about getting off to better starts in the first period, to try to get the early goal,” said Devils coach Lindy Ruff, who won his 850th NHL game, good for fourth all-time. “For Jack to set the tone was important.”
RANGERS 2, BRUINS 1, OT » Vincent Trocheck scored his second goal of the game 2:03 into overtime and New York rallied to beat Boston in a matchup of the Eastern Conference's top two teams.
Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves for the Rangers, who have won three of their last four games. New York is tied with Boston with 43 points atop the conference, but the Rangers have two more wins.
BLUES 4, STARS 3, OT » Colton Parayko scored 37 seconds into overtime, lifting St. Louis past Dallas.
Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists, Kevin Hayes had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Saad also scored for the Blues, who have won two straight under interim coach Drew Bannister.
WILD 2, CANUCKS 1, SO » Mats Zuccarello scored in the shootout and Minnesota beat Vancouver.
Frederick Gaudreau scored in regulation and Filip Gustavsson made 35 saves as the Wild won their third in a row and are now 7-2 under coach John Hynes.
PREDATORS 3, CAPITALS 1 »
Devils forward Jack Hughes, left, celebrates his third goal during Saturday night's 6-3 win over the Blue Jackets.
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and Yakov Trenin scored goals to help Nashville win its fourth straight.
Juuse Saros made 21 saves for the Predators, who have won seven of their last eight games. Saros has won a career-high six consecutive starts.
CANADIENS 5, ISLANDERS 3 » Josh Anderson scored twice as Montreal held on to beat New York.
Cole Caufield, Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak also scored for Montreal, while Sean Monahan, Nick Suzuki and Justin Barron each had two assists. Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots as the Canadiens won for just the second time in their last 10 home games.
COYOTES 2, SABRES 0 » Karel Vejmelka had 29 saves for his first shutout of the season, Clayton Keller scored his 10th goal of the year and Arizona beat Buffalo.
FLYERS 1, RED WINGS 0 » Samuel Ersson stopped 34 shots for his third career shutout and Cam York scored to lead Philadelphia past Detroit.
JETS 6, AVALANCHE 2 » Gabe Vilardi scored twice and Alex Iafallo broke an 18-game goal-scoring drought as Winnipeg beat Colorado.
Iafallo also had an assist that halted a 13-game pointless skid. Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and assist, Nino Niederreiter scored and Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele both had two assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves as the Jets, who have won six of seven, set a franchise record by holding opponents to two goals or fewer in seven consecutive games.
MAPLE LEAFS 7, PENGUINS 0 » Martin Jones stopped 38 shots for his first shutout of the season, Max Domi had a goal and two assists, and Toronto beat Pittsburgh.
Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Matthew Knies each had a goal and an assist, and John Tavares, Noah Gregor and Bobby McMann also scored for the Maple Leafs. Tyler Bertuzzi had three assists to help Toronto extend its point streak to nine games (6-0-3).
PANTHERS 5, OILERS 1 » Carter Verhaeghe scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves for Florida.