Jack Hughes scores twice, Devils hold off Stars

DALLAS -- Jack Hughes scored twice for the New Jersey Devils, who held off the Dallas Stars for a 6-4 win at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Hughes has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in a six-game streak.

Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton each had a goal and an assist, and Jonas Siegenthaler had two assists for the Devils (36-32-2), who are 8-3-0 in their past 11. Jake Allen made 23 saves.

“Obviously it felt good to get that kind of start. It’s kind of been the opposite most of the season for us to create scoring chances, the puck hasn’t really gone in,” Bratt said. “So obviously it felt good that our response and our attention to detail and the goal-scoring was there. Obviously gets the boys fired up, too, and sets us up good for the second and third period.”

Wyatt Johnston had two goals and an assist, Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists, and Thomas Harley had two assists for the Stars (43-17-11), who have lost three straight (0-2-1) and are 1-3-1 in their past five games. 

Jake Oettinger allowed four goals on eight shots before Casey DeSmith entered the game in relief at the start of the second period, making 15 saves. Oettinger had not lost in regulation in his past 14 starts entering Tuesday’s game (12-0-2).

Dallas remained in second in the Central Division, seven points behind the Colorado Avalanche and five points ahead of the Minnesota Wild.

“We self-inflicted ourselves the last few games. We have to work our way out of a little dip here, for sure,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “Two months ago, three months ago, we were talking about the same ebbs and flows and dips in the season and we’re talking about them now. As I come in here, [I was] asked before, ‘Have you peaked too early?’ No, I was never worried we were going to sustain that kind of pace, but now we’ve got another little adverse conditions we’ve got to work ourselves out of so it might have come at the right time.”

The Devils opened the scoring on their first shot of the game at 4:12 of the first period. Hughes took a pass from Simon Nemec, patiently skated across the top of the crease and lifted the puck over a sprawling Oettinger.

Johnston tied it 1-1 while the teams skated 4-on-4 at 8:16 with a wrist shot from the slot past Allen's glove.

Bratt put New Jersey up 2-1 just 55 seconds later at 9:11 during 4-on-4 play. He deked around Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell, powered to the front of the net and tucked the puck around Oettinger's right skate.

“We got a number of high-end chances in behind their defense and made good on them. It was really good," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. "The Bratt goal in particular was a good individual effort all the way around. He took it all the way across the crease on the finish. It was a big-time goal, and it comes at a big time, too. It was four-on-four and Bratt himself just made a mistake on the goal against, and I think he knew it, but I put him back out there and I love how he just went out, took charge and got the goal back. 

"I liked all three periods, to be honest. The second period we don’t win, and we give up some goals and momentum and all that, but there was lots to like in that period, too.”

Connor Brown made it 3-1 at 12:52, beating Oettinger to the short side with a wrist shot from low in the right circle that bounced off the back bar.

“Past couple of games, we’ve been giving up too much. Tonight especially, it was just kind of free offense; it was breakaways, it was bad decisions and turnovers. Good news is, those are easy fixes so now we’ve got to do that,” Harley said. “Just get a little bit smarter out there. You’ve got to be a little bit more aware of when they’re flying the zone and where they are and where you are on the ice. Just got to play a little bit better.”

Hughes scored his second of the period at 17:19 for a 4-1 advantage. Luke Hughes sent a stretch pass from below the goal line in the defensive zone to Jack, who collected the puck and finished a breakaway with a wrist shot from in tight.

“We did some good things at different times, but it’s tough to dig yourself out of a 4-1 hole after one,” Johnston said. “I think we have a really good understanding of what we need to do and what it looks like when we’re at our best. Just haven’t done that enough for enough time these past few games. Every team in this League can beat you and sting you if you don’t play your A-game. We know our A-game is as good as anyone’s and we can beat anyone when we do it.”

Johnston cut the deficit to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 1:11 of the second period. Matt Duchene's backhand pass deflected off the left skate of Brown to Johnston, who put a snap shot into an open net from the left of the crease for his 40th of the season.

“They are a good team, and they have a really good power play, so giving up two power plays to start the second wasn’t ideal,” Brown said. “They built some momentum off that, and they are a good team. They were coming with a push and I thought we did a good job of keeping our head up and making the next play. We weren’t just packing it in and trying to defend, and we went out and scored a few more, so it was all-in-all a good win for us.”

Robertson brought the Stars to within 4-3 at 12:31, putting a shot off Allen's stick.

“We knew coming here in the second period that they were going to have a push; they are the second-best team in the League. They are not just going to walk away. We knew they were going to have pushes there. They have good players that make good plays, but I think overall we were pretty calm in the situation, we managed it pretty well,” Bratt said. “I thought our defense was pretty good and especially that third period. I feel we didn’t give them too much other than that one line-rush goal that they had.”

Timo Meier pushed the lead to 5-3 at 6:46 of the third period when he scored top shelf from the right circle with a wrist shot over DeSmith's left shoulder.

“I think it’s the first time in a while where we’ve been stung like this multiple times. Hopefully we learn from it,” Robertson said. “[We need to] slow down the rush. We saw it against Vegas, there was a lot of rush. Today early, a lot of rush, even worse. So, we clean that up like we did in the second and third, try to limit their breaks, and it’s a good recipe [to win Thursday].”

Mavrik Bourque made it 5-4 at 13:08, deflecting in a backdoor pass from Justin Hryckowian through Allen's pads as he crashed the net.

Hamilton, who was playing in his 900th NHL game, secured the 6-4 final with an empty-net goal at 19:00.

NOTES: Jack Hughes recorded his fifth consecutive 20-goal season and matched the second-longest run in Devils/Rockies/Scouts history. John MacLean (six from 1985-86 to 1990-91) holds the mark. ... It was the first time New Jersey scored four goals in a first period since a 6-5 victory at the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 5, 2023. ... Bratt extended his point streak to six games (four goals, five assists). ... The Devils scored on their first two shots of the game for the first time since a 7-6 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on April 2, 2022.