Bratt wins it in OT after Devils blow three-goal lead in third against Blues

NEWARK, N.J. -- Jesper Bratt scored 1:26 into overtime and the New Jersey Devils survived after blowing a three-goal lead in the third period to win 5-4 against the St. Louis Blues at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Bratt got the puck from Dougie Hamilton for the breakaway and put the deciding goal past Jordan Binnington with a wrist shot.

"I feel like there weren't really good goals that guys scored in the game that I kind of saw a little bit of a pattern on (Binnington), so I just tried to take whatever I had," Bratt said. I was just trying to make a quick read and, obviously, had a lot of time to think on a breakaway like that in overtime compared to 5-on-5."

The Blues scored three goals against Connor Hellebuyck in a span of 3:08 late in the third period to pull the game to a 4-4 tie.

"We had some good stretches, we had some tough stretches, and I made a couple mistakes tonight," Hellebuyck said. "But we got the two points, and that's all that really matters."

Anthony Mantha had two goals and an assist for the Devils (11-5-0), who have won three straight and are 7-1-0 in their past eight games.

Bratt and Luke Hughes each had a goal and an assist, Jack Hughes and Brett Pesce each had two assists, and Hellebuyck made 28 saves in his fourth straight win since being acquired in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 23.

"These moments are going to define a season," Hellebuyck said. "This will probably be forgotten in a week but the lesson learned from it won't be, right? It's just continuing to build our game. These little things mean a lot to us, and they kind of get forgotten later on, but they're important."

Philip Broberg and Mason McTavish each had a goal and an assist, and Binnington made 31 saves for the Blues (7-7-2), who have lost two straight (0-1-1).

McTavish picked up the rebound of Justin Barron's shot and scored from the slot to pull St. Louis within 4-2 at 11:46 of the third period.

"We showed a lot of heart sticking with it," St. Louis captain Robert Thomas said. "I thought in the second period we did a lot of good things ... they obviously scored two quick goals, but it was a tight game and we got rewarded in the third. They all came in a bunch there, so it was nice to get a point, but we would have liked to have finished it off."

Broberg then made it 4-3 on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle at 14:36, and Dalibor Dvorsky tied the game at 4-4 just 18 seconds later off a tip-in from the slot at 14:54 when Connor McMichael stole an attempted pass by Hellebuyck in the right circle.

"I'll just call it a mistake, how about that?" Hellebuyck said.

Luke Hughes gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 7:34 of the first period on a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle, extending his point streak to three games (two goals, two assists).

Mantha pushed it to 2-0 on a wrist shot down the slot after a give-and-go with Jack Hughes at 12:02 of the second period.

Thomas pulled the Blues within 2-1 with a power-play goal on a snap shot at the right post at 16:04.

"Hellebuyck's an elite goalie in this League. We saw him a lot when he was in Winnipeg," St. Louis forward Jake Neighbours said. "He's hard to play against, hard to score on, but we started to get chances at their net in the second (period) and stayed with it."

Jesper Boqvist responded with a wrist shot from the slot at 18:00 of the second for a 3-1 lead. Mantha scored again to extend the Devils' lead to 4-1 with a backhand on the breakaway 19 seconds later at 18:19.

"It feels great (to contribute), I won't lie," Mantha said. "Even if (Hellebuyck) takes the blame for two goals, he saved us how many goals tonight? We're giving up 30-something shots, which isn't like us and he stood up for us."

NOTES: St. Louis became the seventh team to overcome a three-goal deficit in the third period to at least tie a game this season. ... This was the second head-to-head meeting between Hellebuyck and Binnington since the gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan; Hellebuyck won 3-2 with the Winnipeg Jets on April 9. ... Hellebuyck became the second goaltender in Devils franchise history to win each of his first four games with the club, following John Vanbiesbrouck (four games in 2000-01). ... Hamilton earned his 12th career overtime point with New Jersey to tie Scott Niedermayer for the second most by a defenseman in franchise history behind Brian Rafalski (13).