COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jack Hughes scored his second career hat trick to lead the New Jersey Devils over the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Saturday night.
Tyler Toffoli and Nico Hischier each had a goal and an assist, Erik Haula also scored, and Jesper Bratt added three assists to extend his point streak to seven games.
Akira Schmid stopped 23 shots for the Devils, who won their second in a row and for the eighth time in 10 games to jump over Washington for fifth place in the Atlantic Division.
Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov and Alexandre Texier scored and Daniil Tarasov stopped 23 shots in his first start this year for Columbus, which has lost five of its last seven games.
New Jersey took charge early, with Hughes scoring 47 seconds into the game after Toffoli intercepted Johnny Gaudreau’s outlet pass. The goal was the fastest of Hughes’ NHL career, beating his previous record of 54 seconds set March 1, 2022, against Columbus.
The Devils outshot Columbus 7-2 in the first period and Haula made it 2-0 at 16:21 from the left circle.
The teams traded goals with two apiece in the second period. Marchenko took just 17 seconds to cut the lead in half with a power-play goal. Gaudreau earned his 700th NHL point with the assist. Toffoli again made it a two-goal Devils lead 33 seconds later with his team-leading 13th goal of the season, a wrister from the high slot.
Chinakhov pulled Columbus back within a goal at 8:38 of the second for his fifth goal in the last four games before Hughes made it 4-2 with his 100th career goal, four seconds into a 4-on-3 power-play.
Hischier extended the Devil’s lead with his score at 2:50 of the third period before Texier’s empty-net goal with 1:03 remaining made it 5-3. Hughes’ empty-netter at 19:11 completed the hat trick.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host Anaheim Sunday.
Blue Jackets: Visit Buffalo Tuesday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
