The Devils traveled to the American Airlines Center on Tuesday and bounced back from a 2-1 loss against Washington with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over the Stars, handing the Stars their third straight loss. Jack Hughes helped lead New Jersey to victory by finding the back of the net twice. Jesper Bratt, Connor Brown, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton also scored for the Devils. Wyatt Johnston netted two for the Stars, and both Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque scored. The Devils continue their five-game road trip, stopping in Nashville on Thursday, while the Stars head to UBS Arena to take on the New York Islanders.

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Bratt – Hughes – Brown
Gritsyuk – Glass – Hameenaho
Cotter – Bjugstad – Tsyplakov

Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Hughes – Kovacevic
Dillon – Nemec

Allen
Markstrom

Dallas Stars Lineup:

Robertson – Johnston – Bourque
Bunting – Duchene – Benn
Steel – Hryckowian – Blackwell
Back – Hyry – Erne

Lindell – Heiskanen
Harley – Lundkvist
Bichsel – Myers

Oettinger
DeSmith

Jack Hughes got things started when he opened the scoring, putting the Devils ahead 1-0, scoring on their first shot of the game at 15:48 of the first period. He took a pass from Simon Nemec, who passed it from near the blue line, and Hughes got hold of it in the right circle before skating across the crease to lift the puck over a sprawling Jake Oettinger. At 11:44, Wyatt Johnston got Dallas on the board to tie it 1-1 when Thomas Harley carried the puck into the right circle, keeping it away from Luke Hughes before he turned around to hand it over to Johnston, who fired on a wrist shot from the slot past Jake Allen’s glove. Only 55 seconds later, Jesper Bratt put New Jersey back in front 2-1 during 4-on-4 play, scoring his 18th goal of the season after getting the puck from Jonas Siegenthaler, carrying it from the left side, deking around Esa Lindell, driving to the front of the net to tuck it around Oettinger’s right skate. This was his fourth goal in the past five games. Connor Brown made it 3-1 on his 14th of the season, beating Oettinger from low in the right circle, short side, scoring on a wrist shot that bounced off the back bar. Arseny Gritsyuk and Siegenthaler picked up the assists. J. Hughes struck again for his 20th goal of the season off a stretch pass from his brother from below the goal line in the defensive zone, and Jack picked up the puck, finishing the breakaway from in tight with a wrist shot with 2:41 on the clock in the first.

Early in the second, Johnston struck again with his second of the night and his 40th goal of the season to cut it to 4-2 at 18:49 when a backhanded shot by Matt Duchene deflected off Brown’s skate, finding its way to Johnston, who put a snap shot into an open net from the left of the crease. Jason Robertson brought Dallas within 4-3 with 7:29 to go in the middle frame when Nils Lundqvist passed back and forth with Johnston before passing across to Robertson, who was on the left side, and put a shot off Allen’s stick, recording his 39th goal of the season.

Timo Meier received the puck from Nico Hischier, whose attempt was denied after taking a pass from Meier. The puck bounced back to Hischier, who sent it to Dawson Mercer, only to have it returned to him. He handed it over to Meier, who scored on a wrist shot, top shelf, from the right circle over Casey DeSmith’s left shoulder to push the lead to 5-3 at 13:14 of the third period. At 6:52, Mavrik Bourque found the back of the net for his 14th of the season, making it 5-4 after Justin Hryckowian got the puck from Harley before making a backdoor pass to Bourque to deflect it in through Allen’s pads as he crashed the net. With 1:00 left to go, Dougie Hamilton scored an empty-netter for the 6-4 final.

Game Notes:

– Jake Allen made a total of 23 saves for New Jersey.

– Before being replaced between the pipes, Jake Oettinger allowed four goals on eight shots. Casey DeSmith took Oettinger’s place in the second period, making 15 saves in relief. …In his past 14 starts, Oettinger had not lost in regulation (12-0-2).

– Both Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton recorded a goal and an assist. Jonas Siegenthaler picked up a pair of assists.

– Hamilton skated in his 900th NHL career game.

– In his six-game streak, Jack Hughes has 12 points (five goals, seven assists). …With his game-opening goal, Hughes has 34 game-openers in his career, surpassing John Madden (33), and ties Petr Sykora and Nico Hischier for the sixth most in franchise history. Patrik Elias is at the top of the list with 73.

– J. Hughes (2-0–2) recorded his fifth career 20-goal season when he scored his second goal of the game, and tied for the fifth most in franchise history. Elias and John MacLean top the list with 10. …With his multi-goal game, which is the 30th of his career, Hughes became the fastest player in franchise history to reach that mark (417 GP). MacLean; 429 GP.

– Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson each had a three-point night. Johnston recorded two goals and an assist, and Robertson scored one goal and collected a pair of assists. Thomas Harley recorded two assists.

– Johnston became the fourth player to reach the 40-goal mark this season. He also recorded his 17th career three-point game, surpassing Tom McCarthy and Neal Broten (both w/ 16 GP) for the fifth most by a Stars/North Stars player at age 22 or younger behind Mike Modano (29 GP), Brian Bellows (25 GP), Bobby Smith (25 GP), and Dino Ciccarelli (22 GP).

– NJ: 36-32-2, and are 7-3-0 in their past 10.

– DAL: 43-17-11, and are 1-3-1 in their past five.

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