Jesper Bratt scored one goal and tallied three assists, and the New Jersey Devils held on for a 5-3 win over the host Minnesota Wild on Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Alexander Holtz, Michael McLeod, Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton also scored for New Jersey, which earned its third win in a row. The Devils beat the Wild for the second consecutive game.
Devils goaltender Vitek Vanecek turned aside 22 of 25 shots to pick up the victory.
Marco Rossi finished with a goal and an assist for Minnesota. Kirill Kaprizov and Jake Middleton also scored.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson gave up five goals on 38 shots to draw the loss.
New Jersey opened the scoring 3:20 into the first period. Holtz skated toward the slot and blasted a one-timer past Gustavsson for his third goal of the season.
The Devils increased their lead to 2-0 with 4:37 remaining in the period. Bratt slipped a pass to Ondrej Palat, who quickly moved the puck to McLeod for a tip-in score.
Early in the second period, New Jersey went ahead 3-0 on the power play. Jack Hughes fed a pass toward the crease for Meier, who punched a shot into the net.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 3-1 on a power-play goal with 10:57 to go in the second period. Kaprizov’s wrist shot from the top of the left circle slipped past Vanecek.
The Wild pulled within 3-2 with 18:50 left in the game. Rossi notched his fourth goal when he punched in a loose puck from the left side of the crease.
The Devils made it 4-2 thanks to a power-play goal with 4:24 remaining. Bratt tallied his seventh goal on a one-timer from the left circle.
Again, Minnesota tried to claw back, this time with an even-strength goal from Middleton. He scored with 3:33 to play to trim the deficit to 4-3.
Hamilton finished the scoring with a power-play goal with 40 seconds left.
–Field Level Media