Jack Hughes collected a hat trick Saturday night to highlight a game filled with career milestones for the visiting New Jersey Devils, who beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3.
Hughes’ second goal was the 100th of his career while Nico Hischier registered his 300th career point by scoring early in the third. The win was the 850th regular-season victory for New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff, snapping a tie with Ken Hitchcock for fourth most all-time.
Erik Haula and Tyler Toffoli also scored while Jesper Bratt had three assists for the Devils, who have won eight of 10. Goalie Akira Schmid made 23 saves.
Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov and Alexandre Texier scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost five of eight (3-4-1) this month. Goalie Daniil Tarasov recorded 24 saves.
Hughes opened the scoring just 47 seconds into the first, when Toffoli picked off Johnny Gaudreau’s pass from deep in the Blue Jackets’ zone and passed to Hughes, who then beat Tarasov with a backhander from point-blank range.
Haula doubled the lead with 3:39 left in the first, when he took a no-look backhand pass from Dawson Mercer and fired a shot beyond the stick of a sprawling Tarasov.
The Blue Jackets cut the gap in half with a power-play goal 17 seconds into the second. Gaudreau emerged with the puck after a five-person battle behind the net and passed to Marchenko, who went to one knee before sending a shot well beyond Schmid’s stick arm.
The Devils needed just 33 seconds to extend the lead to 3-1. Bratt stole the puck from Nick Blankenburg in the neutral zone and passed to Toffoli, whose shot sailed into the far side of the net.
The Blue Jackets pulled within a goal again in quirky fashion at the 8:38 mark, when Devils right winger Timo Meier got a stick on Chinakhov’s shot before the puck took a handful of bounces and skipped past Schmid.
Hughes scored his milestone goal on a power play with 5:06 left in the period, when he fired a shot under Tarasov’s glove after a faceoff win by the Devils. Bratt fed Hischier for the center’s milestone point 2:50 into the third.
Texier scored with 1:03 left before Hughes completed his second career hat trick by scoring an empty-netter with 47.4 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
