Here are some observations from the game:

• What a masterful pass from Jesper Bratt to set up Jack Hughes’ goal in the first half. Bratt had the puck near the far blue line and was facing the goal. He fired a backhand pass through the air and down to the bottom of the near circle and directly into the boards of Hughes, who quickly slipped the puck into the goal.

• Hughes’ first-period goal was 300^th point in his NHL career. He became the fastest player in franchise history (Colorado/New Jersey) to reach 300 points in 325 games, beating Kirk Muller (332).

Hughes also became the fifth American-born player to reach 300 points before his 24^th anniversary, joining Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk).

• Meier scored his seventh goal of the season late in the second period thanks to a poor shot between the circles. He was on a breakaway, but Florida defender Nate Schmidt was closing in. So he just took the puck and sent it the other way into the net. A simple sniper shot. Nothing extraordinary, but still so emotional.

• Jonas Siegenthaler had a secondary assist on Meier’s second-period goal and it was a critical pass. The Panthers were crossing the neutral zone when Tkachuk attempted to pass off the boards to Evan Rodrigues, which would have created a 2-on-1 for Florida. But Siegenthaler knocked the puck out of the air and eventually Dawson Mercer found Meier for his breakaway goal.

• Ondrej Palat scored a backcheck late in the third period as Eetu Luostarinen shot the puck around Markstrom and had an open net. Palat reached from behind to tie Luostarinen’s stick and he didn’t even make a shot.

• The Devils’ penalty kill unit managed to eliminate 18 consecutive penalties before the start of the game. And the unit was really put to the test at the end of the first period. Stefan Noesen received a sharp penalty. But 55 seconds later, Brenden Dillon was given a brutal penalty for removing Matthew Tkachuk’s helmet. That put the Devils down for 65 seconds in the final minutes of the period.

The Devils managed to eliminate both penalties to extend their streak to 20 out of 20. And they owe a big thank you to their goalkeeper. Jacob Markstrom made a point-blank save on Carter Verhaeghe, then denied a shot from the high slot by Tkachuk by placing part of his stick on the shot.

Unfortunately, the streak ended there as Reinhart took a power play shot the following period.

• The match also featured one of the best fights you’ll see all season between Dillon and Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich. The two men went at each other for 25 seconds straight.