Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists for his second straight three-point game and the New Jersey Devils rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Thursday night.
Bratt tied it at 2 with his 19th goal of the season at 6:50 of the third period, then set up Simon Nemec’s first of the season 1:35 later. Brett Pesce also scored, and Jake Allen made 31 saves — 18 in the third period.
“It’s our fourth line against their top line and we turn the puck over,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said when asked what went wrong. “It’s something that just absolutely can’t happen especially with a 2-1 lead.”
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Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL-leading 47th goal for Edmonton. Evan Bouchard also scored and Connor McDavid had two assists. The Oilers lost their second straight and fell for the eighth time in 11 games.
Takeaways
Oilers: Draisaitl boosted his points streak to 16 games … Stuart Skinner made 18 saves, but stopped just four of six shots in the third period.
New Jersey: On a day the Devils announced star defenseman Dougie Hamilton would miss the remainder of the regular season they got goals from two blueliners best known for their defense. Nemec’s goal was just the fourth of his two-season career, and Pesce broke the ice for his third of the season and second in his past five games.
Key moment
With New Jersey down 2-1, Bratt flung a shot through traffic that eluded Skinner. Mere seconds later, he set up Nemec’s blast from the point that got through Skinner.
Key stat
The Devils claimed their 14th comeback win of the season, but also improved to 23-5-3 when scoring first.
Up next
The Oilers are at the New York Islanders on Friday night. The Devils are at Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
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