Bratt has goal, 3 assists, Devils cruise past Rangers

NEW YORK -- Jacob Markstrom made a season-high 38 saves, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt combined for seven points, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 5-1 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

"'Marky' was our best player tonight and the PK did a really good job," Hughes said. "A lot of shot blocks. I know they gave up one, but a lot of shot blocks by our whole team. A really good effort in that sense, but 'Marky' was our best player and really held us in there."

Bratt, playing his 499th NHL game, had a goal and three assists, and Hughes had two goals and an assist. Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist, and Luke Hughes had two assists for the Devils (17-9-2), who scored five goals for the third straight game and fourth in five.

Jack Hughes and Bratt each have points in three consecutive games; Hughes with eight points (three goals, five assists) and Bratt with seven (two goals, five assists).

The Devils blocked 27 shots, including 10 on the penalty kill.

"The penalty kill had about 10 blocks and it's not sifters from the blue line, it's one-timers from [Mika] Zibanejad and [Adam] Fox and [Artemi] Panarin," Markstrom said. "[Brett] Pesce is sticking a foot out, 'Haulsy' [Erik Haula] is sticking his hand out. I try to tell them I've got a lot more gear on than they do, but that's the competitive side. We haven't really been happy with the way we've defended lately and myself as well, I haven't been good enough lately, so it was a big game and it was perfect timing for us to get this game."

Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal and Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves for the Rangers (13-10-1). New York has lost six of seven games, all in regulation.

"It sounds crazy, but tonight I felt like we played better," Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck said. "We're in a funk. Everyone in here has to play a little bit out of their comfort zone. Obviously, what we're doing right now isn't working so it's going to take something different. Guys that are usually playmakers and scoring goals have got to chip it in and grind it out. Guys that aren't usually hitting have to start hitting. We've got to play out of our comfort zone. We've got to dig our way out of this."

Bratt opened the scoring by keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 with Jack Hughes and scoring five-hole on Shesterkin at 1:27 of the first period to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.

"I hate the first goal," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "We talk about not giving up odd man rushes from the offensive zone, and we did."

Dawson Mercer made it 2-0 at 7:10, collecting the puck off a blocked shot above the left face-off circle and carrying it across before scoring with a far-side shot from the right circle that went in off the inside of Shesterkin's right pad.

"It's got to be sharper in the first when we first take the ice," Laviolette said. "Whether it's effort or whether its execution, it's got to be better right off the bat. It's got to be more consistent through the game. What we're doing isn't good enough."

The Devils killed a penalty on Hamilton at 9:16 by blocking five shots, including four off Zibanejad's stick, in a 30-second span after Pesce's stick broke.

Pesce had three of the blocks. Bratt and Haula had the other two. Markstrom finished it with a save on Kreider on a redirect from the left post.

Bratt had a short-handed breakaway earlier in the kill.

"When it was time to dig in and stand in front of shots and eat a few of those pucks I thought the guys did a tremendous job of that," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. "There's a number of guys that took their wounds here tonight. They stood their ground."

Hamilton extended the lead to 3-0 with a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 9:04 of the second period. He scored with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Jack Hughes with two seconds left on the 5-on-3.

Jack Hughes scored at 12:38, making it 4-0 with a spinning shot off a rebound of his brother Luke's shot from the left point.

Kreider's power-play goal at 13:29 made it 4-1, but Jack Hughes scored on a 4-on-3 power play at 18:56 to extend New Jersey's lead to 5-1.

"I liked how we went out and when the power play had an opportunity to strike, we did," Keefe said. "Those goals and that ability to extend the lead was really important for us here tonight. It's a team on the other side that we know can score a lot and they had us on our heels a fair bit tonight, but to have that lead takes a little bit of wind out of their sails."

NOTES: Bratt's four points gave him 35 for the season, fifth in the NHL, three shy of League leader Kirill Kaprizov (38). ... Kreider's power-play goal was the 114th of his career and he's now two short of Camille Henry's franchise-record of 116. ... Devils forward Nathan Legare made his NHL debut, skating 11:42 and finishing with two shots on goal and six hits. He was recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League before the game Monday. Legare grew up with Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere. … Mike Hardman also made his season and Devils debut after being recalled from Utica with Legare. He played 8:24. … Rangers forward Brett Berard (upper body) did not play for the first time in five games since he was recalled from Hartford of the AHL on Nov. 24.