Jesper Bratt scored twice, and Yegor Sharangovich provided the go-ahead goal with 9:50 left in the third period as the New Jersey Devils ended their six-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the host Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Mackenzie Blackwood made 34 saves for his first win since Nov. 3. Teammate Dougie Hamilton added two assists, and Tomas Tatar had an empty-net goal.
It was Bratt’s eighth career two-goal game, but he has no hat tricks.
The Panthers got goals from Eric Staal and Eetu Luostarinen. Anton Lundell, who hadn’t played since Dec. 1 due to an upper-body injury, added an assist after missing nine games.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves.
New Jersey played without defenseman John Marino, who missed his first game due to an upper-body injury. To make matters worse for the Devils, defenseman Ryan Graves played just 63 seconds before leaving due to an apparent lower-body injury.
Florida opened the scoring with 15:15 left in the first. The Panthers got five shots on goal in six seconds, scoring on that last one by Staal, but only after Blackwood lost his stick. Staal took advantage, stuffing the puck past two Devils defensemen. Blackwood never saw Staal’s shot.
New Jersey tied the score 1-1 on a power-play goal with 12:59 left in the first. It took just five seconds into that power play before Bratt scored on a one-timer from the right circle, beating Bobrovsky just inside the right post.
Florida took a 2-1 lead on Luostarinen’s goal with just four seconds left on its power play. After Florida’s first-team power play failed to score, Sam Bennett beat three Devils defenders to get a pass off to Luostarinen for his wrist shot. It was Luostarinen’s first career power-play goal.
New Jersey tied the score 2-2 on Bratt’s second goal, which came with 17:16 left in the third. After a Panthers giveaway, Bratt scored on the rush as his wrist shot beat Bobrovsky’s glove.
The Devils took their first lead on Sharongovich’s wicked deflection, which took a bad bounce past Bobrovsky.
New Jersey added Tatar’s empty-net goal with 40 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
