NEWARK, N.J. — The Devils lineup is built on youth and speed, and in one pivotal moment on Thursday they proved just how dangerous that combination can be.
After the game was tied at one goal apiece for 36 minutes across the first and third periods, the Devils found their opening 22 second into their second power-play chance.
Jack Hughes went hurtling down the left side, poked the puck off the left boards and connected to a wide-open Jesper Bratt on the right doorstep for the go-ahead goal.
Bratt's tally broke the game open and helped the Devils skate to a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday night at Prudential Center. Hughes added an empty-netter to cap off a three-point night.
The win helped the Devils improve to 4-1 since the Christmas break and bounce back from a road loss to the Bruins on Tuesday. The Devils improved to 14-16-5 and moved closer to getting back to the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 10 when they were 10-10-5.
Bratt had a goal and an assist, while Hughes tallied a pair of assists.
After Tomas Tatar opened the scoring with a goal 51 seconds into the game, Max Domi provided an answer a little more than five minutes later when he cashed in on a rebound.
But for the next almost two periods Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood and Blue Jackets netminder Joonas Korpisalo silenced each side. Blackwood blocked 31 of 32 shots in the victory.
First impressions
Before the game, Ruff said there was a level of comfort in the consistency from leading scorer and his first line.
That group led by Bratt, Hughes and Tatar proved just how dangerous they could be less than a minute into the game.
Hughes dropped down to his knees to win a faceoff in the left circle and Bratt spotted Tatar to the right of the crease. Tatar baited Korpisalo and finished with his backhand to put the Devils ahead 1-0 51 seconds into the game.
The assist was Bratt's team-best 22nd of the season. He has scored a point in four of the team's last five games, boosting his season total to 32 on 10 goals and 21 assists.
Tatar's goal was his eighth, while Hughes now has nine goals and 11 assists on the season.
Boost from Blackwood
The Blue Jackets' first goal was one that Blackwood probably wanted back, but from that point forward in the first period, he was unbeatable.
Max Domi's tying goal came when Blackwood let a rebound drop in front of him on a slapshot from Vladislov Gavrikov.
The one goal was the fewest Blackwood has allowed since he shut out the Flyers on Dec. 8. Blackwood's performances in net are heightened by the absence of backup Jonathan Bernier who is out for the rest of the season following hip surgery.
Across the rest of the period, Blackwood helped the Devils fight off a pair of penalties. At the three-minute mark, he stopped four Blue Jackets shots in a 26-second span.
And then on the penalty kill just before the intermission, Blackwood went sprawling down to rob Oliver Bjorkstrand on a rebound after a pair of point-blank saves on Patrik Laine and Boone Jenner.
Blackwood stopped 17 of the 18 Blue Jackets shots in the period to help Devils stay tied at 1-1.
He was aided by the goal-frame more than halfway through the second period when Laine fluttered a shot from the left side that careened off the post.
