NHL

New Jersey Devils at Florida Panthers

· National Hockey League
Final
6 - 2

Devils get 3 power play scores, top Panthers 6-2 to finish sweep of Cup champs

Jesper Bratt's hat trick helps tame the Panthers

Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists for the Devils, who also won 4-1 in Florida on Tuesday. Jake Allen stopped 25 shots for New Jersey, which got three power-play scores — along with a short-handed empty-netter with 5:12 left, Bratt's third of the night — and is now 7-2-0 in its last nine games.

Sam Reinhart — the first player with 13 goals this season — and Jesper Boqvist scored for Florida, which hadn't dropped two straight since Oct. 10 and 12. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.

Takeaways Devils: New Jersey became the first team this season to get two goals in the final 12 seconds of periods. Both were power-play tallies; Bratt scored with two seconds left in the first, Noesen with 11 seconds left in the second.

Panthers: Sam Bennett back Thursday after he missed Tuesday's game with a minor upper-body issue. Bennett had an assist on Boqvist's goal.

Key moment The Panthers, down 4-2, opened the third period on a power play but it was wiped out 22 seconds later when Carter Verhaeghe was called for tripping — one of many calls that Florida wasn't thrilled about during the evening.

Key stat The Devils already have two games with three power-play goals this season. They had five in the last six regular seasons combined.

Up next The Devils visit Tampa Bay on Saturday and will try to go 3-0-0 in Florida this season; they haven't had a perfect record in the Sunshine State (excluding COVID-affected seasons) since going 4-0-0 at Florida and Tampa Bay in 2000-01.

The Panthers host NHL-leading Winnipeg on Saturday.

Regular Season Series

NJ leads series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 10:01 Stefan Noesen Goal (8) Backhand, assists: Luke Hughes (2), Nico Hischier (8)
Goal 1st Period 12:13 Jesper Boqvist Goal (3) Wrist Shot, assists: Matthew Tkachuk (7), Sam Bennett (7)
Goal 1st Period 19:58 Jesper Bratt Goal (6) Snap Shot, assists: Dougie Hamilton (14), Jack Hughes (12)
Goal 2nd Period 4:45 Sam Reinhart Goal (13) Snap Shot, assists: Aleksander Barkov (12)
Goal 2nd Period 5:56 Dawson Mercer Goal (5) Deflected, assists: Jack Hughes (13), Nico Hischier (9)
Goal 2nd Period 19:49 Stefan Noesen Goal (9) Snap Shot, assists: Nico Hischier (10), Jack Hughes (14)
Goal 3rd Period 3:50 Jesper Bratt Goal (7) Wrist Shot, assists: none
Goal 3rd Period 14:48 Jesper Bratt Goal (8) Wrist Shot, assists: none

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/nj.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNJ https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/fla.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originFLA
13 Blocked Shots 10
29 Hits 45
4 Takeaways 8
29 Shots 27
3 Power Play Goals 0
5 Power Play Opportunities 5
60.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
1 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
33 Faceoffs Won 21
61.1 Faceoff Win Percent 38.9
16 Giveaways 15
7 Total Penalties 7
17 Penalty Minutes 17

Game Information

Amerant Bank Arena

Location: Sunrise, FL
Attendance: 18,573 | Capacity:

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 0 5 28 14
New Jersey 2 7 28 13
Washington 1 5 27 13
NY Rangers 1 5 25 12
NY Islanders 5 8 19 7
Columbus 2 9 18 8
Philadelphia 2 10 18 8
Pittsburgh 4 10 18 7

2024-25 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Toronto 2 6 26 12
Florida 1 7 25 12
Tampa Bay 2 6 22 10
Boston 3 9 21 9
Buffalo 1 9 19 9
Detroit 2 9 18 8
Ottawa 1 10 17 8
Montreal 2 10 16 7
Full Standings