Devils get 3 power play scores, top Panthers 6-2 to finish sweep of Cup champs

Audio By Carbonatix

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jesper Bratt got his second career hat trick, Stefan Noesen scored twice and the New Jersey Devils beat the Florida Panthers 6-2 on Thursday night to sweep a two-game series with the Stanley Cup champions.

Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists for the Devils, who also won 4-1 in Florida on Tuesday. Jake Allen stopped 25 shots for New Jersey, which got three power-play scores — along with a short-handed empty-netter with 5:12 left, Bratt's third of the night — and is now 7-2-0 in its last nine games.

Sam Reinhart — the first player with 13 goals this season — and Jesper Boqvist scored for Florida, which hadn't dropped two straight since Oct. 10 and 12. Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves.

Devils: New Jersey became the first team this season to get two goals in the final 12 seconds of periods. Both were power-play tallies; Bratt scored with two seconds left in the first, Noesen with 11 seconds left in the second.

Panthers: Florida got Sam Bennett back Thursday after he missed Tuesday's game with a minor upper-body issue. Bennett had an assist on Boqvist's goal.

The Panthers, down 4-2, opened the third period on a power play but it was wiped out 22 seconds later when Carter Verhaeghe was called for tripping — one of many calls that Florida wasn't thrilled about during the evening.

The Devils already have two games with three power-play goals this season. They had five in the last six regular seasons combined.

The Devils visit Tampa Bay on Saturday and will try to go 3-0-0 in Florida this season; they haven't had a perfect record in the Sunshine State (excluding COVID-affected seasons) since going 4-0-0 at Florida and Tampa Bay in 2000-01.

The Panthers host NHL-leading Winnipeg on Saturday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl