Hamilton’s 2 points help Devils defeat struggling Panthers

NEWARK, N.J. -- Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist for the New Jersey Devils in a 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Dawson Mercer, Cody Glass and Simon Nemec also scored, and Jack Hughes and Connor Brown each had two assists for the Devils (30-29-2), who have won two straight after five losses in a row. Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.

"I thought it was a great performance for full 60 [minutes]," Glass said. "We haven't done that in a while, so I think we noticed how good it felt. I think it started early ... they were kind of pushing us around and we stuck our noses right back in there. We stuck together and that was a great win."

Anton Lundell scored for the Panthers (30-28-3), who have lost three of four since the Olympic break and are 2-8-0 in their past 10 overall. Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves.

"Our goaltending was good, but we got behind the game and we're having a hard time generating, so we tried to do it a whole bunch of different ways that weren't particularly effective," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "We had a little bit of offensive zone time but couldn't handle it, couldn't move it easily. We just weren't as good as we needed to be to win a hockey game."

The Panthers, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, are 10 points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"You cannot look at the math," Panthers forward Tomas Nosek said. "You need to focus on the next game. We need just the next game, and that's all it is. We're a strong group. We always help each other out, and we stay behind each other."

Florida closes out a four-game road trip at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday and at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. The Panthers play 13 of their next 19 games on the road.

Arseny Gritsyuk gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 12:10 of the first period on a snap shot from the left hash marks off a 2-on-1 with Jack Hughes, who extended his point streak to four games (five assists).

"It takes a bit to adjust to play with Jack; it's a different style of game when he's out there," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said when asked about having Gritsyuk on a line with Hughes. "I thought they worked off each other really well. [Connor Brown] did a good job reading off of them and Jack's wanted to play with 'Brownie' for a while now, so we kind of facilitated that."

Lundell tied it 1-1 at 14:37 on a backhand from the slot just eight seconds after a power-play expired.

"We're sticking together in here, and there's no quitting in here," Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling said. "We're going to keep fighting until the end here. Obviously, it's a tough loss."

Hamilton gave the Devils a 2-1 lead during a 4-on-4 at 1:35 of the second period. Jack Hughes took the initial shot from the left circle that caromed off the end boards to Hamilton low in the right circle.

Glass pushed it to 3-1 at 8:13 on a highlight-reel tip-in just outside the right post.

"I knew [Lenni Hameenaho] was going to shoot it, but I saw it come in and was just trying to get my stick anywhere around it," Glass said. "Obviously it found the back of the net, so it was a good feeling."

Mercer scored an empty-net goal at 16:23 of the third period to make it 4-1, and Nemec also scored into an empty net at 19:20 for the 5-1 final.

"We've been really good in third periods and closing out games all season long," Keefe said. "I thought we played smart, we played hard and we managed our way through the game really well. I didn't think we started great in our first couple shifts, but 'Markie' was outstanding and then we kind of found our game."

NOTES: Nosek made his season debut after missing the first 60 games with a knee injury. He had two hits and one blocked shot in 10:21 of ice time. ... The last NHL team to win the Stanley Cup and miss the playoffs the following season was the Los Angeles Kings, who won the Stanley Cup in 2013-14 and failed to qualify for playoffs in 2014-15. ... Devils center Nick Bjugstad had two hits and one shot on goal in his 800th NHL game. Bjugstad was acquired by the Devils in a trade with the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 4 for forward Thomas Bordeleau and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.