The Devils Were 8-13 Without Jack Hughes Last Year. He Needed One Night to Remind Them Why

New Jersey went 8-13-0 in the games Jack Hughes missed last season. On Thursday, in the first game of this one, he decided another for them: a wrist shot off a Jesper Bratt feed with 1:37 left in overtime for a 3-2 win over Philadelphia in the Devils' home opener.

It was a family night in Newark. Luke Hughes tied the game 2-2 at 9:44 of the third with a snapshot set up by Luke Evangelista, and his older brother finished it.

Hughes is coming off a winter in which he led Team USA to Olympic gold in Milan Cortina, and a season in which he led the Devils with 77 points and was second with 27 goals despite missing 21 games with a hand injury.

Woll nearly stole it

The Flyers had no business being in this game in overtime, and they were there because of Joseph Woll. The goalie, acquired from Toronto over the summer, stopped 41 shots. Jake Allen needed 23 saves at the other end.

Luke Hughes tied the game midway through the third period.

All four goals in regulation came from defensemen. Rasmus Ristolainen redirected a Travis Sanheim point shot to put Philadelphia ahead in the first, Dougie Hamilton answered off the post late in the second, and Sanheim's slap shot early in the third made it 2-1 Flyers before Luke Hughes tied it.

Hamilton's goal was his 200th point as a Devil, in his 306th game. Among the franchise's defensemen, only Scott Stevens got there faster, in 250.

For Philadelphia, this was progress. The Flyers lost their opener 7-0 at home to Pittsburgh a night earlier.

New Jersey brought back its top eight scorers from a team that finished seventh in the Metropolitan at 42-37-3. The Devils visit the Islanders on Saturday, and the Flyers host Carolina the same night.