Devils Dominate Panthers, Win 6-2 | GAME STORY

SUNRISE, Fla. - In their second straight game against the Florida Panthers the Devils picked up a second straight win, this time 6-2. Jesper Bratt had a hat trick while Stefan Noesen scored two goals. Dawson Mercer also had a goal for the visiting team. Not only did the Devils beat a top-NHL team in consecutive games, New Jersey has won two straight and five of their last six.

"Those are two good wins," Stefan Noesen shared post-game. "That's obviously a really good hockey team. Special teams were huge tonight for us, three power play goals. We did a really good job on the penalty kill as well. Good 60-minute game, good six periods against the Champs."

10 minutes into the first period, Stefan Noesen got the Devils on the board. The rebound from Luke Hughes’ shot popped left and Noesen buried it. In addition to Hughes, Nico Hischier picked up an assist. Two minutes later, Florida responded with a goal of their own. Former Devil Jesper Boqvist showed his stick skills with several moves to get inside positioning and tie the game, 1-1.

The Devils got their first power play of the game with 37 seconds left in the first period. During the man-advantage, Nico Hischier was inches away from scoring as his shot bounced over the goal. New Jersey stuck with it and maintained their possession. With 1.4 seconds left in the opening frame, Jesper Bratt scored to give New Jersey the lead, this time 2-1. Bratt had patience to find a lane before shooting high. Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes picked up assists on the goal.

"There's basically six or seven really hard puck battles when they could have cleared the puck and we kept the puck in the zone," Bratt said about the goal. "Noesen did an unbelievable job at winning some hard puck battles and then we're getting to use our skill and our creativity when the pucks get to the open area. But it starts with the really hard puck battles that keep the puck in."

In the first five minutes of the second period, right off a faceoff win for the Panthers, Sam Reinhart’s shot from the dot beat Jake Allen far side to tie the game, 2-2. As they have done multiple times throughout the season, New Jersey responded to their opponent's goal with multiple strong shifts.

Hischier drew a penalty to get the Devils back on the power play late in the first and it didn’t take long for the Devils to capitalize. New Jersey had traffic in front of Bobrovsky and Jack Hughes’ shot hit off of Dmitry Kulikov’s skate and then Dawson Mercer to sneak past the goal line. The Devils third goal of the game came within a minute and a half after Reinhart's tally.

Like the first period, the Devils were back on the power play late in the second period. 10 seconds into the man-advantage Stefan Noesen scored to give New Jersey a 4-2 lead. The goal was the result of strong passing as Jack Hughes passed to Hischier who quickly passed it to Noesen net front. The goal was Noesen's second of the night and the Devils third power play goal.

In the first four minutes of the third period, the Devils increased their lead again. Jesper Bratt's shot was initially stopped by Bobrovsky but popped behind Florida's netminder and crossed the goal line. Tomas Tatar picked up a primary assist and Luke Hughes' secondary assist was his second helper of the game.

Halfway through the third period, as tensions continued to rise, a fight broke out. Kurtis MacDermid and Jonah Gadjovich dropped the gloves and both were sent off for fighting majors. This is the second straight game that Gadjovich fought a Devils player as he squared up against Brenden Dillon Tuesday night.

In the final six minutes of regulation the Devils went back on the penalty kill. Florida pulled Bobrovsky in to make it a 6-on-4 situation; however, Jesper Bratt's empty net goal shorthanded increased New Jersey's lead to 6-2. Bratt's tally also secured him his second career-hat trick.

With the win, the Devils improved to 12-6-2 and moved up to second in the NHL with 26 points.

Here are some observations from the game:

•Special teams can make or break games. For New Jersey, a strong special teams performance fueled their second straight win over Florida. The Devils three power play goals made them the first team this season to score multiple power-play goals in a single game against the Panthers. On the penalty kill, New Jersey killed off all five of their penalties. The Devils have killed off 25 of their last 26 penalties.

"We're starting to learn where guys are going to be, just trusting one another," Noesen said about recent power play success. "Whether it's myself saying something, or whether it's Jack, Nico, Bratt, even Dougie, everyone's got everyone's attention. No matter what time it is, when it is, we all try to execute the best we can."

"The power play was cooking with gas tonight," Sheldon Keefe said post-game. "That's a testament to the players and their execution ... the penalty kill grinded out some kills for us. That's a big part of it. You want to win on the road, you want to beat a team for the second time in their own building, you need those types of efforts."

•The Panthers are a physical team but through both games the Devils were able to match that physicality and hold their ground. That was even more evident tonight.

"We've been preaching that since day one of camp," Keefe said about his team's increased physicality. "That's a requirement if you want to compete at a high level in the league. It looks a little differently for everyone throughout the lineup, but when there's a puck battle to be had, or there's body positioning to be won, we've got to be absolutely engaged and be on the right side of as many of those as we can."

•Nico Hischier has drawn 11 penalties this season which has given his group plenty of chances to use their power play at the start of the year. The Devils Captain drew two in Thursday's game including one while the Devils were on the penalty kill to make it 4-on-4 hockey for over a minute and a half.

•Jesper Bratt has started the season strong. With eight goals and 16 assists through 20 games played he's averaging over a point per game. The forward has been held off the scoresheet only four times through the start of the season. Bratt joined John MacLean and Peter Stastny as the only players in Devils franchise history to score the trifecta of an even-strength, power play goal, and shorthanded goal in the same game. When asked about his performance, Bratt credited his linemates and his team.

"I think our line, especially our power plays, are pretty dialed in right now," Bratt said. "We're working hard in practice, we're understanding what works for us as a line, as a team, and I think the team builds the whole momentum for us as a line too. Me, Palat and Hughes together, we're really playing well together right now. Palat gets to the hard areas and wins pucks for us. He creates that space for me and (Hughes) to do our thing. And obviously Jack has been playing unbelievable lately too, so it's been working for us lately."

•The Devils have discussed riding the waves of momentum and responding not only throughout games but throughout the season. When Sam Reinhart scored to open Florida's scoring, the Devils scored 76 seconds later. After a 1-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Devils have won their last two. New Jersey continues to stay focused in tight moments and stick to their structure which was evident, once again, tonight.

The Devils three-game Florida road trip wraps up Saturday night as New Jersey takes on the Tampa Bay Lightning.