Jesper Bratt needed only 1:26 of overtime to finish off a wild one at Prudential Center, lifting the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
It looked for a while like New Jersey had this game tucked away. The Devils built a 4-1 lead through two periods, only to watch St.
Louis storm back with three goals in the third and force overtime. Bratt ended it with a wrist shot off a feed from Dougie Hamilton, beating Jordan Binnington to seal it.
Anthony Mantha was a major part of New Jersey’s early cushion, scoring twice and adding an assist. Bratt also finished with a goal and an assist, while Jack Hughes chipped in two assists.
The Devils struck first when Luke Hughes opened the scoring at 7:34 of the first period with a wrist shot set up by Brett Pesce and Jack Hughes. Mantha made it 2-0 at 12:02 of the second, and after Robert Thomas pulled St.
Louis within one on a power-play goal at 16:04, New Jersey answered fast. Jesper Boqvist scored at 18:00, and Mantha added a backhand goal 19 seconds later to send the Devils into the intermission up 4-1.
St. Louis refused to go away in the third. Mason McTavish scored at 11:46, Philip Broberg added another at 14:36, and Dalibor Dvorsky tied the game 4-4 with a tip-in at 14:54, with Connor McMichael picking up the assist.
New Jersey outshot St. Louis 36-32.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 of 32 shots for the Devils, while Binnington made 31 saves on 36 shots for the Blues. St.
Louis finished 1 for 3 on the power play, and New Jersey went 0 for 3. The Blues blocked 16 shots, compared with eight for the Devils.
The crowd was 16,514.
The win moved New Jersey to 11-5-0. St. Louis dropped to 7-7-2.
In Other News...
Devils Trade With Calgary Keeps Looking Worse For One Painful Reason
When Craig Conroy took over as Calgarys general manager, one of his first major moves was sending starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey in a deal that brought back a 2025 first-round pick and defenseman Kevin Bahl. At the time, it looked like the kind of trade that could help both sides reset, with the Devils getting an established goalie and the Flames adding assets for the future and a young defenseman with room to grow.
Instead, the return has only made the move look better for Calgary. Bahl has settled in as a key piece on the blue line and earned a six-year contract extension, while the first-round pick became prospect Cole Reschny. Markstrom, meanwhile, never found much traction in New Jersey before being moved on to the Florida Panthers, leaving the Devils with little to show for a deal that once seemed like a major swing. [Read more 🡒]
Luke Hughes Is Making The Devils Look Very Smart Right Now
The Devils have been rewarded for getting ahead of the market with Luke Hughes, who is already looking like the kind of long-term bet front offices dream about. New Jersey locked him up before he reached his prime, and the move is drawing a lot of attention now that he has turned into one of the driving forces behind a breakout season, helping the team at both ends of the ice.
Luke Hughes is part of a broader trend around the league, where teams are willing to commit early to young defensemen who still have plenty of room to grow. St. Louis made a similar bet on Philip Broberg, and that has paid off as well, with Broberg becoming the Blues' top defenseman. For the Devils, though, Hughes is the one making the contract look especially wise right now, and the bigger question is how high his ceiling can go from here. [Read more 🡒]
Arseny Gritsyuk Is Forcing A Huge Devils Breakout Question
Arseny Gritsyuk has already given the Devils something to think about in his first North American season, and the early returns are hard to ignore. After signing a three-year contract with New Jersey, he put up 31 points in 66 games while adjusting to a new league, a new style and a new role. Then, early in the 2026-27 season, the Devils slid him onto a line with Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes, and the results took off in a hurry.
Eight goals in 15 games is the kind of start that changes the conversation around a young winger, especially on a team that is always looking for more finishing punch. The bigger question now is how much of that surge is tied to the opportunity around him and how much is Gritsyuk simply seizing a bigger offensive role on his own, because the Devils are suddenly staring at a breakout pace that may not be easy to sustain. [Read more 🡒]