TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jesper Bratt scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick as the New Jersey Devils rallied from two goals down and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 Sunday night to end a three-game skid.
Nico Hischier and Nolan Foote also scored to help the Devils improve their league-leading road record to 26-5-4. Vitek Vanecek finished with 22 saves to help New Jersey get a win after losing at home to the Lightning on Tuesday and Thursday before blowing a 2-0 lead in a 4-2 loss at Florida on Saturday.
Nikita Kucherov reached the 100-point mark for the third time in his career with a goal in the first period and Alex Killorn also scored for the Lightning, who had won three straight. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 34 saves.
Kucherov put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0 at 3:26 of the first period, one-timing a power-play feed from Steven Stamkos past Vanecek to reach the 100-point mark. Kucherov previously had 100 points in 2017-18 and then led the NHL with 128 in 2018-19.
Killorn made it 2-0 at 6:30 of the second, drifting unchecked into the slot before beating Vanecek.
The Devils responded 9 seconds later when Bratt took a pass from Hischier and beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot from the slot. He tied it another 2:43 later when his straightaway shot from just inside the blue line sailed through traffic and past Vasilevskiy.
Hischier, the first played taken in the 2017 NHL Draft, became a 30-goal scorer for the first time and put New Jersey ahead with just under eight minutes left in the middle period by beating Vasilevskiy from the high slot.
Foote made it 4-2 at 9:51 of the third with his first of the season, and Bratt completed his hat trick with an empty-netter with 11.6 seconds remaining for his 30th.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host Minnesota on Tuesday night.
Lightning: At Montreal on Tuesday night.
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