Hischier scores twice, Devils cool off Predators

NASHVILLE -- Nico Hischier scored twice, and Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists for the New Jersey Devils in a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Jack Hughes and Jonas Siegenthaler each had two assists for the Devils (37-32-2), who have won five of their past six. Jacob Markstrom made 16 saves.

“[Siegenthaler] has been playing great,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. “His contributions offensively, joining the rush, sometimes the puck lands on his stick and he makes the play. Sometimes he’s driving through and creating space for others. I think he’s done a really nice job of that. It’s great to see him get rewarded. He does so many good things and hard things in the game that don’t get a lot of attention, so it’s good to see him get some points and getting rewarded.”

Steven Stamkos and Reid Schaefer scored for the Predators (34-29-9), who had their season-high five-game winning streak end. Justus Annunen made 26 saves.

“I didn’t think we got to our game completely tonight,” Stamkos said. “They like to go ring around the rosie in the offensive zone. When you’re defending, it tires you out and you don’t get to play offense as much. And that may have been the case today. When we had success, we got it in deep and forechecked and created some turnovers, but a low-event game with us offensively.”

The Predators lead the Los Angeles Kings by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Nashville trails the Utah Mammoth by three points for the first wild card.

After Nashville scored twice in the second period to tie it, Hischier gave New Jersey a 3-2 lead on the power play at 14:07 of the third with a deflection of a shot from the left face-off circle by Hughes.

“You know they’re going to have a pushback,” Bratt said. “They’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of skilled guys that are going to take advantage of small opportunities. But I think we handled it pretty well, and we got into the third period with some good poise and composure. I think our (penalty kill) did a great job all game, and it was up to us on the power-play group to kind of step up and create that momentum for the team.”

Timo Meier added an empty-net goal at 19:27 to make it a 4-2 final.

Bratt put the Devils ahead 1-0 at 18:02 of the first period with a deflection of a one-timer from the right circle by Hughes. Bratt has scored in five consecutive games and has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak.

Hischier extended it to 2-0 at 9:13 of the second period when he got a piece of a wrist shot from the left circle from Bratt.

“Two goals that haven’t really happened too much for us during the year with those screens and tips and all that stuff,” Bratt said. “Obviously feels good to get those in. I don’t really know how (Hughes) had that good of aim to hit my stick. I just tried to get any distraction in front there. And then Nico does a great job. I see we have a good netfront (presence) on the one shot from me, and I just figured any puck in there with a guy on the back side could be good.”

Schaefer cut it to 2-1 at 11:09, scoring on a breakaway off a pass from Fedor Svechkov.

Stamkos then tied it 2-2 just 1:51 later. Luke Evangelista forced a turnover by Hughes in the Devils zone, and Stamkos beat Markstrom with a backhand at 13:00.

“I thought we threw some pucks away uncharacteristically for this group,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “It’s kind of crept in our game since probably the Trade Deadline where we haven’t really got into our flow a little bit. In saying that, we’ve been opportunistic. We had breakaways, we had 2-on-1s, we had all kinds of different looks that gave us an opportunity to execute and maybe put this game away.”

NOTES: Hughes has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in a seven-game point streak. He had a game-high seven shots on goal. … Stamkos scored the 124th tying goal of his career, passing Teemu Selanne for the eighth most in NHL history.