ANAHEIM — Jack Hughes had two goals and an assist for the New Jersey Devils in a 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.
Jesper Bratt scored two goals, Damon Severson had three assists, and Vitek Vanecek made 31 saves for the Devils (27-12-3), who have won three in a row and played at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Jesper Boqvist and Dougie Hamilton each had a goal and an assist for New Jersey, which improved to 16-2-1 on the road, the first team in NHL history to win 16 of its first 19 road games.
“It’s hard to win games consistently on the road,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “It’s something you’ve got to put in your pocket and know that your team has found a lot of different ways to win games.”
Adam Henrique had a goal and an assist, Trevor Zegras scored, and John Gibson made 33 saves for the Ducks (12-27-4), who finished 3-6-1 on their 10-game homestand and were outscored 19-5 in the final three games.
“It’s really easy to hang your head and feel sorry for yourself, but this is not a league where anyone cares,” Anaheim forward Ryan Strome said. “Right now, it just feels like everything we are doing is just going against us.”
Video: NJD@ANA: Hughes scores PPG in 1st period
Hamilton scored on his own rebound to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal of the season at 8:02 of the first period.
Bratt made it 2-0 at 10:53. Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler was unable to control a bouncing puck at his blue line. Bratt skated past him, recovered the puck and held Fowler off as he scored from the slot.
“[Fowler] tried to knock the puck down, that was the right play, it just bounced the wrong way and they ended up with a little mini-breakaway,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said.
Hughes set an NHL career high with his 27th goal of the season to give the Devils a 3-0 lead at 16:15.
On a power play, Hughes tried to make a pass Nico Hischier in front of the crease, but it went off the stick blade of the Ducks defenseman Simon Benoit and into the net.
“It just seems with guys that are gifted offensively the puck finds a way of going in,” Ruff said.
Bratt scored on a wraparound for a 4-0 lead at 11:59 of the second period.
Bratt said assistant coach Andrew Brunette told him during the first intermission that Gibson sometimes comes too far out of his crease, leaving him vulnerable to wraparounds.
“I got some good advice from a guy who scored a lot of goals, so I better listen,” Bratt said.
Video: NJD@ANA: Bratt saktes around the net and slips it in
The Ducks cut it to 4-1 at 13:35 when a shot by Troy Terry went wide and Henrique scored on the rebound off the end boards.
Boqvist scored on another breakaway to make it 5-1 at 2:30 of the third period.
“A lot of the years before we had some good, tough players and we had some edge on the team, but this year, I think from goalies all the way out to our fourth line, we’re doing a great job,” Bratt. said. “We’re really wearing teams out and playing really fast and really quick hockey right now.”
Zegras scored on a power play at 15:03 to cut the lead to 5-2, but Hughes scored 36 seconds later for the 6-2 final.
“I thought we rolled them pretty well in the first,” Hughes said. “We came out fast and we needed a game like that.”
NOTES: Hamilton has eight seasons with at least 10 goals. Only Brent Burns of the Carolina Hurricanes (11) and Roman Jose of the Nashville Predators (nine) have more among active defensemen. … Hischier’s NHL career-high eight-game point streak (six goals, five assists) ended. … Hughes has 13 points (10 goals, three assists) in his past seven games. He scored his 22nd goal of the season at even-strength to move into a tie with Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche and Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars for the NHL lead. … Bratt has eight points (five goals, three assists) in the past six games. … New Jersey is 8-0-0 against the Pacific Division. … Vanecek is 10-1-1 on the road this season … Devils forward Nolan Foote had one shot and two hits in 10:04 in his season debut after being recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. … Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg played his 700th NHL game. … Fowler’s assist was his 300th in the NHL.
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