With the loss, Anaheim fell to 12-27-4 on the season and 8-13-1 on home ice. The Ducks also capped a franchise-record 10-game homestand at 3-6-1.
Adam Henrique led Anaheim offensively with a two-point night, including his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Trevor Zegras also scored. Troy Terry and Cam Fowler added assists. Making his 29th start of the season, John Gibson made 33 saves.
Bratt and Hughes each scored twice for the Devils, who won their third straight game and improved to 27-12-3 on the season, just two points shy of Carolina for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. Dougie Hamilton and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Devils. Vanecek extended his personal winning streak to five games, stopping 31-of-33 Anaheim shots.
The first period was all New Jersey, as the Devils took full control with a 3-0 lead before the initial intermission.
Hamilton struck first on a perseverant effort, following up his shot from the slot by tracking down the rebound and burying the second take past Gibson for a 1-0 Devils advantage.
The second-year Devil has opened the scoring 10 times this season, the first Devil to do so since Scott Stevens 31 years ago.
The goal also clinched Hamilton's eighth career 10-goal season, trailing only Brent Burns (11) and Roman Josi (nine) among active defensemen.
Bratt scored a few minutes later after a tough bounce for defenseman Cam Fowler. As the Devils cleared the puck from their own zone, Fowler tried to knock it down and play it ahead, but instead it carromed right to Bratt, who raced ahead and beat Gibson through the five-hole to double the visitors' lead.
The 24-year-old Bratt has points in six of his last seven games. A year after posting a career-best 73 points, Bratt is once again playing at a point-per-game with 42 points (17-25=42) in as many appearances this season.
Hughes then delivered the exclamation point of the dominant opening frame with less than four minutes to play, attempting to get a centering pass through to captain Nico Hischier, but instead the bid hit a Duck in front and trickled over the line.
The New Jersey captain has scored in six of his last seven games and now has a career-high 27 goals on the season, with 40 games still to play. Hughes leads the Devils in scoring (27-24=51), goals and assists.
New Jersey's edge hit four midway through the second on another strong individual effort by Bratt. This time, the Devils winger took a pass in the corner from Hughes, circling the net and beating Gibson to far the post for a wraparound goal.
With two goals, Bratt notched his fifth multi-goal game of the season and the 11th of his six-year NHL career. Bratt has 3-10=13 points in nine career matchups against Anaheim.
The former Devil Henrique put the Ducks on the board late in the middle frame, following up a rush by Terry and finding himself in the right place at the right time. As Terry evaded a Devils defender for a forehand chance in tight on Vanecek, Henrique found some open space in the slot. Terry fired his initial bid wide, but was able to redirect the carrom back towards the middle of the ice, where Henrique was waiting to pot it past the sprawled netminder for his 13th of the season.
