Diotte, Lecompte, Bertuzzi Have 3-Points Each in Prospect Challenge Opener | GAME STORY

BUFFALO, NY - Mikael Diotte, Nathan Lecompte, and Tag Bertuzzi each had three-point outings in the Devils' opening game of the Prospects Challenge, leading New Jersey to a dominant 8-2 win against the Blue Jackets.

For Diotte, it was a prefer re-introduction to the game, after the 22-year-old spent nearly 10 months rehabing from an injury. Diotte last played a game in November 2024, with the ECHL's Adirondak Thunder.

“I was out for a long time last season, so to be able to be back in and play a good game, everybody played a good game, it was just nice to be part of the boys and be back with the Devils," Diotte said, post-game.

Diotte opened the scoring with a slap shot from the blue line, breaking beyond the blue paint, past Jackets netminder Nolan Lalonde for the 1-0 lead just before the midway mark of the period.

“I was surprised too, the shot was pretty hard,” Diotte said of the power of the shot, “but I’ll give a shoutout to the forwards on the ice it was a good screen. It was nice to score two goals, for sure, it’s not in my habit, usually, so being able to score a couple of goals was pretty nice.”

“He had a long, long time off rehabbing,” Utica head coach Ryan Parent said. “He put a lot of effort in to it. When we saw him, he had tons of energy. Sometimes that goes the wrong direction but I thought he played a strong game, he got into it early, he was physical and wasn’t looking for second options, he put the puck on net and got rewarded for it. I thought he had a really strong night.”

Nathan Lecompte, who is at the Devils rookie camp on an invite, assisted on the Diotte goal and later added a goal in the first period to help build New Jersey's 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Lecompte broke a 1-1 tie with a minute remaining, his goal assisted by Diotte and Brian Carrabes.

Seamus Casey extended the Devils' lead to 3-1 less than four minutes into the second period, a goal assisted by Tag Bertuzzi, while Diotte's second goal of the game increased New Jersey's lead to 4-2 after 40 minutes.

Dylan Wendt, Lecompte, and Brian Carrabes all scored in the third, along with Shane Lachance, who capped off the eight-goal game for New Jersey. It was a little redemption for Lachance, who had a goal taken away late in the first period.

"I went up to the ref at the start of the second and he said the D actually knocked the goalie over, so it should have been a goal but it’s alright," Lachance said. "No video review. In the regular season, that’s a goal review.”

Lachance, also made sure to make his physical presence known, dropping the glove in defense of a teammate.

“Any time one of your teammates gets hit hard, hit like that, it’s important that you step in, show your teammates, show the other team that you’re not going to back down, he said.”

New Jersey had several players with multipoint nights, including Tag Bertuzzi (3a), Ethan Edwards (2a), and Carrabes (1g-1a).

Oiva Keskinen and Jack Williams scored for Columbus.