Spoiler Alert! Devils Rout Caps Behind Bratt, Hughes

· Yahoo Sports

NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 02: Jack Hughes #86 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his goal during the third period of the game against the Washington Capitals on April 2, 2026 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images

Look at the Devils delivering maximum damage to a pair of Metropolitan Division rivals this week, although in very different ways.

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First, on Tuesday, they rolled over and played dead for a hapless Rangers team that got two points that won’t help them in their race to the bottom for Gavin McKenna.

Forty-eight hours later they demolished a desperate Washington Capitals squad 7-3 at Prudential Center.

Dueling five-point nights from Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt — career highs for both players — allowed the Devils to overcome some of the usual brain farts on defense that left Jake Allen hung out to dry. Even Dawson Mercer got in on the act, with his fourth two-goal game of the season, but just the first since Nov. 1.

The loss was devastating for the Caps, who could have leap-frogged Philly thanks to the Flyers 4-2 loss to Detroit. A win would have put Washington just a point behind Ottawa for the final Wild Card spot. Instead they’re now 3 points behind Ottawa, as well as Detroit and Columbus.

The Devils who have nothing to play for — pride? — jumped on Washington early Thursday night.

Cody Glass buried his 16th of the year 5 minutes, 22 seconds into the first period. Glass finished off a nifty passing play between Nick Bjugstad and Lenni Hameenaho to put the Devils up 1-0.

Just 2:15 later, Mercer cut to the net from the right circle, grabbed the rebound of his own shot off a Timo Meier pass, and buried a backhander to make it 2-0.

Washington answered almost immediately with a Cole Hutson goal off a two-on-none break just 38 seconds later.

A little under two minutes later, the game was tied 2-2 on Pierre-Luc Dubois power-play goal at 9:47.

But a Dougie Hamilton slapshot wrenched the lead back for good with 1:41 left in the period.

Not that that was obvious at the time.

The Caps outshot New Jersey 14-9 in the second. In addition to Allen’s 14 saves the Devils blocked 19 Washington shots. According to Natural Stat Trick, Washington had three high danger chances in the second to New Jersey’s one.

But Hughes made that one chance count, putting the Devils up 4-2 by rifling a pass from Bratt past Logan Thompson at 9:10.

They connected again midway through the third. Hughes drove the net and caught a pass from Bratt at the right post that he was able to sneak around Thompson’s left pad for the 5-2 lead at 8:10.

Tom Wilson’s goal 1:23 later didn’t seem to swing much momentum in Washington’s favor. Indeed, it was Bratt scoring the next goal — his 20th of the year — to re-establish the three-goal lead at 12:18.

Desperate to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, the Caps pulled Thompson early, but Mercer scored an empty-netter at 17:54 to put the game out of reach.

Up Next

New Jersey hosts the Montreal Canadians, who currently occupy third in the Atlantic Division and hold a four-point edge on Boston, at 7 pm Saturday at Prudential Center. Cole Caufield, who’s trying to become the first Canadien to win the Rocket Richard Award, scored his 48th and 49th goals of the season in a 3-2 win over the Rangers at MSG on Thursday. Montreal has been on a recent tear, going 8-2-0 in its last 10. True road warriors, they’ve won four straight on the road beating Nashville, Carolina, and Tampa by a combined score of 11-3 before playing the one-goal game with the Rangers.

Your Thoughts

Fun but meaningless. These are all basically win-wins at this point. They lose and they improve draft position. They win and they hurt a team you probably dislike if you’re a Devils fan. Be nice to see the Caps, Flyers, or Pens miss by a point with a loss on the books to the Devils in the last two weeks. … What did everyone think? Anything here over this late stretch that makes you think they run it back again next year?

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