Hischier, Bratt lift Devils past Canucks
Combine for five points, Allen makes 20 saves in 500th NHL start; Karlsson scores for Vancouver
By Mike G. Morreale
NHL.com Senior Draft Writer
NEWARK, N.J. -- Nico Hischier had two goals and an assist for the New Jersey Devils in a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Prudential Center on Saturday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist, Jack Hughes had two assists, and Jake Allen made 20 saves in his 500th NHL game.
"It was a proud day for me," Allen said. "I think there was a point where I didn't know if I was going to hit (500 games). I didn't think it was in reach. I've extended my career a lot longer than I thought possible and I'm pretty proud of that. I'm a huge proponent on longevity so I'm proud to be able to say I played this long."
Allen joined Jacob Markstrom (Nov. 21, 2024) and Martin Brodeur (Feb. 19, 2001) as the only goalies to earn a win in their 500th NHL game with the Devils.
New Jersey (2-2-0), which went 3-for-4 on the power play, had lost two straight.
"We put a lot of pucks on net, and I think that's a good recipe," said Hischier, the Devils captain. "We put pucks on net and got bodies there. It's a numbers game and eventually they go in. There's lots to like but for sure, some things we can clean up."
Linus Karlsson scored, and Leevi Merilainen made 31 saves for the Canucks (2-4-0), who are 0-2-0 to begin a six-game road trip.
"Five-on-five, I thought it wasn't that bad ... just special teams," Vancouver forward Brock Boeser said. "That's a couple games in a row where our penalty kill has to bear down and get those kills. We've got to stay out of the box, myself included."
Karlsson scored a power-play goal to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 5:27 of the first period, sweeping in a shot from the right hash marks.
Hischier answered with a power-play goal from the slot to tie the game 1-1 at 8:03 of the first. It was his first goal of the season and 200th of his NHL career.
"I mean, obviously it makes me proud a bit for sure (to score 200 goals)," Hischier said. "Like that's something nobody's going to take away from me. But hopefully there are a couple more coming. So I hope I'm not done. I still want to get better and take this team somewhere."
Merilainen left the game at 14:33 of the first when his skate blade detached from the boot, forcing Kevin Lankinen (one goal on three shots) into the game to finish the period.
Jesper Boqvist scored at 16:24, chipping in a rebound from outside the left post to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. Amadeus Lombardi, acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on June 25 for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, took the initial shot from the slot to earn his first NHL point.
"He's been looking good," Boqvist said of Lombardi. "We're all so happy for him. He's been working hard for it so we're all super happy for him. To take the lead going into the intermission was good but I feel we did a lot of good stuff in the first period, so I feel like we deserved that one."
Bratt made it 3-1 with a power-play goal on a wrist shot from low in the left circle at 4:36 of the second period.
The Canucks have allowed six power-play goals in their past two games; they also allowed three in a 7-2 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
"From a work ethic standpoint, it just needs to be much more difficult for teams to recover pucks and get to their sets," Canucks coach Manny Malhotra said.
Allen made his best save at 12:48 of the second when he denied a backhand attempt by Jake DeBrusk down the slot with his left pad. He again stopped DeBrusk with his glove on a wrist shot from the slot at 15:32 of the second.
"Every team in this league is capable of doing great things and they have great players on the other side," Allen said. "We let our guard down for a second, but that's my job. The boys rebounded right away and scored a couple big goals to open it up a little bit."
Hischier pushed it to 4-1 with a power-play goal on a snap shot from the left post at 19:50 of the second.
New Jersey had been 1-for-14 on the power play in its first three games.
"We put the work in and we did a lot of practice, a lot of routes, and I think that's when it just start clicking," Hischier said. "You just need to stay patient sometimes. I think it's normal to go through stretches and we stayed patient, we worked on it."
NOTES: Paul Cotter, who signed a one-year contract with the Canucks on July 1 after two seasons with the Devils, had four hits in 15:11 of ice time in his first game against his former team. ... Canucks forward Elias Pettersson had his five-game point streak end (two goals, six assists). ... Hischier is the fifth player in Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies/Devils history to score 200 goals and moved within one of tying Bobby Holik and Travis Zajac (202) for third place. ... Hughes had his 65th career multi-assist game to tie Scott Niedermayer for the fourth most in Devils history.
