NEW YORK -- — Jesper Bratt had a goal and three assists, Jack Hughes scored twice and Jacob Markstrom made 39 saves as the New Jersey Devils beat the New York Rangers 5-1 on Monday night.
Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton also scored and Luke Hughes had two assists for the Devils, who won for the fifth time in seven games.. New Jersey is nine points ahead of the Rangers, who had the best record in the NHL last season.
Chris Kreider ruined Markstrom’s shutout bid with a power-play goal with 6 1/2 minutes left in the second period. Igor Shesterkin finished with 22 saves while losing his fifth straight start to fall top 8-9-1 this season. The Rangers have lost six of their last seven.
Bratt scored his 12th goal just 1:27 into the contest with a low shot that eluded Shesterkin. Mercer made it 2-0 at 7:10 of the first.
Hamilton scored on the power play at 9:04 of the second, and Jack Hughes made it 4-0 with 7:22 remaining in the period. at 12:38. Hughes got his second of the night and 11th of the season, getting New Jersey's second power-play goal of the game, with 1:04 left in the middle period.
Rangers: Dropped to 6-5-1 at Madison Square Garden this season as they started a five-game homestand.
Devils: Improved to 17-9-2 after missing the playoffs a year ago.
Markstrom made successive saves on Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck during an early second-period New York power play. Markstrom also made a diving stop on Mika Zibanejad with just under five minutes left in the second.
Bratt, who assisted on Hamilton’s goal and both by Jack Hughes, leads the Devils with 35 points.
Devils host Seattle on Friday, and Rangers host Pittsburgh.
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