VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The New Jersey Devils won the battle of the Hughes brothers Tuesday night.
Jesper Bratt scored his second goal of the night with 34 seconds left in the third period as the Devils defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-5 in a nail-biting NHL game.
Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists, while his younger brother Luke Hughes scored on a power play for the Devils.
Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes had two third-period assists as the Canucks rallied from three goals down to tie the game.
The game was billed as the “Hughes Bowl” as Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes faced his brothers center Jack Hughes and defenseman Luke Hughes of the Devils. Parents Jim Hughes and Ellen Weinberg-Hughes were at the game.
“I always enjoy playing Quinn and seem to have good games in Vancouver against him,” said Jack. “It was a nice win and pretty fun to play with both my brothers.”
Quinn Hughes didn’t appreciate the experience quite as much.
“It’s bittersweet right now,” he said. “I’m sure they’re appreciating it more than I am right now.”
Erik Haula and Michael McLeod also scored for the Devils.
J.T. Miller had a power-play goal and an assist for the Canucks. Brock Boeser, Nils Hoglander, Sam Lafferty and Dakota Joshua also scored for Vancouver.
Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 26 shots.
New Jersey’s Vitek Vanecek had 28 saves.
Heading into the third period trailing by three goals, the Canucks refused to quit with Quinn Hughes playing a big part in the comeback.
Boeser struck first, taking a Miller pass from along the boards and scoring his NHL leading 18th of the year at 7:02. Lafferty made it 5-4, deflecting a Quinn Hughes point shot past Vanecek at 13:58. Hoglander tied the game, taking the rebound of a Quinn Hughes shot and firing it into an open net at 16:34.
Bratt won the game when he put in the rebound of a shot through traffic.
“It shows how strong we are as a group that we believe in ourselves,” said Bratt. “We knew it was possible to make a difference and come away with the two points.”
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said the winning goal was an example of what his team did wrong all night long.
“I still don’t understand where our guys were going on that play,” said Tocchet. “You can blame all five guys on the ice for that.”
Luke and Jack Hughes combined for the only goal of the second period, which gave the Devils a 5-2 lead.
Jack Hughes said he watches a lot of Canucks games.
“I have a pretty good read on how they play,” he said. “I think what happened was we got to play our game early and they had to take a few chances.”
Devils coach Lindy Ruff said the Hughes brothers are important to the team.
“We know that Jack can generate and we know what Luke can do from the back end,” he said. “I thought Jack’s line helped get us going.”
The Devils led 4-2 after a wild first period that saw the teams combine for three goals in just over six minutes. They then exchanged goals 58 seconds apart as time ticked away.
It was the ninth time in NHL history three brothers played in the same game. The last time was April 13 when Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers faced Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes.
UP NEXT
Devils: At Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
Canucks: Host Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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