Hughes brothers reunite as Devils open trip to Canucks

The New Jersey Devils begin a three-game road trip through western Canada on Wednesday night when they take on the Vancouver Canucks.

The Devils, who entered Tuesday’s game with a one-point lead in the Metropolitan Division, will also play in Calgary on Friday before finishing the trip in Edmonton on Monday.

New Jersey gained some much-needed momentum heading into its long road trip, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 on Sunday in Newark, N.J., snapping a four-game losing streak (0-2-2). ).

Stefan Noesen scored twice to cap a four-goal second period. Jack Hughes, Paul Cotter, Nico Hischier and Erik Haula also scored, while Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 of 26 shots. It was Hischier’s ninth goal of the season.

“Yeah, that was big,” coach Sheldon Keefe said of breaking a losing streak before leaving. “In particular, we are not happy with our results in this building. Going into what will be a difficult trip for us, we wanted to make sure we scored points here and left feeling good.”

“Obviously, when you win a hockey game on the road or at home, it feels good,” added Dawson Mercer, who had two assists. “The fact that we as a group have earned two points here and now have a day on the road to start our journey is definitely a good feeling for us.”

Also opening the trip are star forward Jack and young defenseman Luke Hughes, who are highly anticipated as they face older brother Quinn, Vancouver’s star defenseman, in the final round of the Hughes Bowl.

Quinn and Jack met seven times, with New Jersey holding a 6-1-0 lead. Luke, a rookie last season, is 1-1-0 against the Canucks.

“I know they have a really good team and I’m really happy,” Jack Hughes told NHL.com. “I think this year it’s not going to be about the three of us…it’s going to be about the Hughes Bowl. I think we can go out there and have a nice time and spend some of it with Quinn and our parents.”

Vancouver loses 4-3 in overtime to visiting Carolina on Monday. In the contest, Quinn Hughes, the 2024 Norris Trophy winner, scored his second goal of the season during a third-period comeback from a 3-1 deficit to force OT. Pius Suter tied the game at 3 with 3:05 left before Sebastian Aho scored the game-winner 47 seconds into overtime.

“I thought the last 10 minutes were great, but before that… I don’t think we were ready to play,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “Carolina was there. In the beginning, we had a lot of guys who weren’t moving and weren’t winning battles. Then we decided to do things like this and turned it into a game. So take the positive out of it, understanding the point, but I think it’s a lesson to be learned.”

The Devils will be without Curtis Lazar (lower body injury), who suffered a hip injury while being tested by Anaheim’s Radko Gudas on Sunday. Justin Dowling was recalled from AHL Utica on Tuesday to take Lazard’s place.