The New Jersey Devils headed into Amerant Bank Arena with the goal of completing the improbable road sweep against the defending champion Florida Panthers. They did so successfully, taking the Cats down 6-2, their seventh win in their last nine games. They’re now 12-6-2.
The Devils came out flying to start the contest and got a gritty goal from Stefan Noesen to open the scoring. What else is new, though? He’s been red-hot. But just two minutes later, former Devil Jesper Boqvist made a great individual effort to get by Dougie Hamilton and knotted it up at one. Then Carter Verhaeghe took an ill-advised slashing penalty and the Devils took advantage, as Jesper Bratt scored a buzzer-beater with 1.4 seconds to go. To nobody’s surprise, Noesen provided the screen to make that goal happen.
Bratt beats the buzzer!#NJDevils | @Mikes_Amazing pic.twitter.com/sk5PBoXzMs
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 15, 2024
Both teams traded chances to start the second and then Sam Reinhart tied it again with a perfect snipe past Jake Allen. But the Devils’ power play struck again; Jack Hughes scored his seventh goal in nine games to put them ahead 3-2. If you thought Noesen was done making an impact, he scored again on the power play to make it 4-2 in the dying seconds of the period. He’s now on pace for an incredible 38 goals this season.
The Panthers got a full two-minute power play to start the third, but Verhaeghe took another penalty, which negated it. Then the Devils silenced the building as Bratt’s wrist shot leaked through Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 5-2. The game got a little chippy afterward; J. Hughes went after Anton Lundell in response to a cross-check and received an unsportsmanlike penalty. Then Kurtis MacDermid and Jonah Gadjovich had an energetic tilt, each landing some hefty blows. Bratt sealed it off with a shorthanded empty netter for his second career hat-trick.
The Devils’ special teams have continued to excel, going 3-for-5 on the man advantage and killing all five penalties. They will be back in action on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
