Bratt, Devils Pull Off 3rd Period Comeback Win to Snap Skid | GAME STORY

The Devils snapped their six-game winless streak (0-5-1) with a 4-2 victory against Florida Wednesday night at FLA Live Arena.Jesper Bratt scored twice for the Devils, as did Yegor Sharangovich and Tomas Tatar. Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves.
"That was real important. We needed a win," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We've played several really good games inside this and couldn't find ways to get the puck in the back of the net. To come out and get a couple goals in the third period, a real good goal by Jesper and get some traffic in front and a re-direction by Shara, it was real important."
Florida received goals from Eric Staal and Eetu Luostarinen.
"That one felt good for sure," captain Nico Hischier said. "We put in the work. We came in late on back-to-back and came out to play. It was a full team effort. That one definitely feels good and puts us back on track."

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The Devils return home to face the NHL's top team, the Boston Bruins, at Prudential Center Friday night prior to heading into the Christmas break.
Here are some observations from the game...
- Bratt snapped a four-game pointless drought Tuesday in Carolina with an assist. In that game he was stopped on a breakaway and had a wide-open-net look but shot the puck over the crossbar. Bratt was so close, yet so far.

However, against Florida, the mojo was going his way. He scored two goals in the contest, including his new career-high fifth power-play goal of the season. Bratt buried a shot from the near circle to finish off a nice diagonal feed form Jack Hughes. Bratt tied the game at 2-2 with his second goal of the contest on a 2-on-1 rush, opting to keep and shoot. It was a good choice.

- Yegor Sharangovich broke a nine-game goalless drought with his ninth of the season. He tipped a point shot by Jonas Siegenthaler into the net to give the Devils a 3-2 lead. Nice seeing him get off the goose egg. - The Devils entered the game without the services of John Marino. He suffered an upper-body injury late in the second period against Carolina Tuesday night and didn't play in the third period.

To make matters worse, the Devils lost Ryan Graves in the opening minutes Wednesday after he fell awkwardly into the boards while tangled up with Zac Dalpe. Graves couldn't put weight on his lower body and literally crawled to the bench before play was stopped.

In his absence, the five remaining defensemen had to shoulder a heavy work load, essentially playing an entire game down a man (Graves logged 63 seconds of ice time). Not to mention the defense corps is playing on back-to-back night's down a man. They really gutted this out.

"Once your adrenaline gets going and once you're in the game you just get into that rhythm of playing you don't think about the minutes or who you're playing against or who you're playing with," Severson said. "Your name gets called, you go out that door and play and do everything you can to help the team."

Damon Severson was the horse. The Devils divvied up the minutes as follows:

Brendan Smith: 23:01

Dougie Hamilton: 24:44

Damon Severson: 28:24

Jonas Siegenthaler: 24:15

Kevin Bahl: 16:30

"You have to give that group a lot of credit," Ruff said of the D. "The five guys that finished the game, in back-to-back games, a lot of ice time, a tough loss last night and just to bounce back, get in real late and end up playing the way they did, you have to give them a lot of credit."

- There was no love lost between these two teams the last time they met on the previous Saturday. In the final seconds of the first period, Nico Hischier took a faceoff against Florida's Aleksander Barkov. On the draw, Hischier lost his balance and fell onto Barkov's knee, knocking him out of the lineup.

Florida responded by roughing up Hischier every chance they could. They didn't pass on opportunities to hit him, slash him, check him or cross check him, and it didn't matter if he had the puck, if it was after a whistle or before the start of the second period. The Devils players didn't seem aware of what was happening, and thus didn't show much response.

The question was whether or not that feistiness would carry over into Tuesday. It didn't take long for an answer. After Hischier dumped a puck, Carter Verhaeghe knocked him to the ice. It didn't take long to see if the Devils would be more diligent in their response. Tomas Tatar wasted little time throwing his weight into Verhaeghe at the bench. Things boiled over when Erik Haula and Anton Lundell drop the gloves to fight. There was a full night fisticuff after the Devils scored the empty-net goal to seal the victory.

"I think the group was disappointed in what had happened (last game)," Ruff said. "They were there every second of the way tonight. I have to give them credit for that. We realize we still have to grow as a team. It's just a part of remembering where we're at and where we have to get to."

- Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made his first NHL start since Nov. 3 at Edmonton (he did play two games with the Utica in the American Hockey League and the third period Tuesday night in Carolina).

It was a promising showing from the 6-foot-4, 225-pound netminder. He made several high-quality saves, including stopping Staal and Matthew Tkachuk on 2-on-1 rushes and split pad save on Sam Bennett. The tender also made a breakaway save on Dalpe late in the second period to keep it a one-goal game.

"It's feeling better and better," Blackwood said. "Before I got hurt at the start of the year every game I felt better and better and my game was continuing to progress. Going to Utica really helped me get off on the right track and my game is starting to feel better and better every time I get on the ice. I'm happy with that."

- It was a spirited game from Haula. He was engaged physically and even dropped the gloves. But it was his hustle and effort that stood out. Haula raced into his own zone to stick check Bennett and deny him shot from a great scoring chance. Haula's effort led to the Devils' second goal. He jumped up on the backcheck as the Panthers were breaking out of their zone. His pressure forced a bad pass and turnover from Ryan Lomberg. The puck found Dougie Hamilton's stick and he quickly transition up to Bratt for a 2-on-1 goal.