A peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be such a simple thing. And when it’s composed correctly, it can satisfy even the harshest of critics. Wait, we’re sorry, this isn’t a food review, it’s a hockey story. So then, what gives? Why are we talking about peanut butter and jelly? Well, it just so happens that the New Jersey Devils have a two-player combination who like to refer to each other as peanut butter and jelly. Those two players are Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. They’ve been making this reference for a while now and it’s stuck, like peanut butter to the roof of your mouth.
Thursday night, the Devils hosted the Montreal Canadiens for a game at Prudential Center. The end result was a 5-3 victory for the Garden Staters. And in that win, the peanut butter jelly combination of Hughes and Bratt combined for six points. Hughes tallied one goal and two assists while Bratt lit the lamp twice and chipped in with one helper. With their six-point game in the books, it’s worth pointing out that the duo kept things simple (except for one highlight reel play) and they benefited greatly from doing so; just like when you make an actual PB&J sandwich.
Early in the first period, roughly a-minute-and-a-half in – Hughes weaved in and out of Montreal’s defense and fed the puck to Bratt, who was stationed just to the right of Canadiens’ goalie Sam Montembeault. Bratt easily tapped the puck into Montreal’s net and just like that it was 1-0 Devils at 1:33 of the first period.
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Next up were back-to-back penalty-kill opportunities as Jonathan Kovacevic was first called for tripping Nick Suzuki and then Bratt was called for interfering with Mike Matheson. New Jersey successfully killed off both penalties by sacrificing their bodies to block several shot attempts; a solid strategy and one that the coaching staff has been pleased with so far this season.
“It kind of gives us momentum,” Hughes told the media after the game. “When they get two fast penalties like that, you gotta think that they won’t get any more power-plays coming up for a little while. So those were big for us.”
Less than four minutes after the Devils killed off Bratt’s penalty, Jack Hughes stepped up again and fed Ondrej Palat from below the goal line. Palat, who has struggled to record points so far this year, shot the puck from just below the left face-off dot and past Montembeault to increase the Devils’ lead to 2-0.
Palat also managed to draw a power-play opportunity for the Devils with 1:10 left in the first period as Kaiden Guhle interfered with him. However, New Jersey failed to add to its lead during the duration of the power-play, which carried over into the second period. Then, with five minutes gone by in the middle period, Alex Newhook cut the Devils’ lead in half, 2-1, preventing the Garden Staters from being able to record another shutout win. (They had two during their recent Western Canada road trip).
Jonas Siegenthaler restored New Jersey’s two-goal lead 5:19 after Newhook’s goal when he wired a blast from between the hash marks past Montembeault and into the net. The goal allowed Siegenthaler to redeem himself for the turnover that led to Montreal’s first goal. It was also his first goal of the year and his first going all the way back to December 21, 2023.
The Devils almost took that two-lead into the second intermission but with 58.9 seconds left in the period, Brendan Gallagher cleaned up a loose rebound and knocked the puck past Jacob Markstrom to draw the Canadiens within 3-2.
Then it was onto the third and final period. Bratt returned the favor from earlier in the game by setting up Hughes for a goal to extend New Jersey’s lead to 4-2, 6:23 into the third period.
“I think we started that in Edmonton,” Bratt explained. “I think we started supporting each other better. We started skating better. We were closer to each other. That kind of sets up our O-zone plan. We get to keep the puck more and play more with the puck and that’s when we’re at our best; when we get to skate, move the puck and tire the other team out. That’s how we get our scoring chances. It was a good game in Edmonton. We came back here, we needed a win and it was good that we got to contribute to the team in a win.”
Newhook tried to rally his team with his second goal of the night to make it a one-goal game to no avail. Montreal had its chances over the next 10 minutes but couldn’t convert. Eventually, with 26 seconds left in the game, Bratt scored his second of the game, an empty-netter, to seal Montreal’s fate and give the Devils a 5-3 win.
The game wasn’t the prettiest or smoothest for New Jersey and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe readily admitted to not loving much about how his team played, but a win is a win and they’ll gladly take the two points.
“It’s a hard thing to get points in this league,” Keefe said. “To get the win and lead the whole way through is good. I didn’t love a lot about the game if I’m being honest. Except for the fact that we got our two points, that’s a good thing.”
Next up is a date with the Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday night. New Jersey lost the last matchup between the two teams when the Isles visited Prudential Center just before Halloween, so Saturday night is a chance for the Devils to even the season series and continue to build momentum for themselves as the season progresses. If they keep things simple, like a PB&J sandwich, they should be in good hands and eat well on most nights.
photo by Katelynn Reiss
