New Jersey Devils stars drop performances we haven't seen in 20 years

For all intents and purposes, the New Jersey Devils' 2025-26 season is over, but it is still important for this core group of players to end the season positively.

It's been a rotten, injury-marred year complemented by foolish decisions from the front office, and yet there is hope for the future. And that's especially true as long as Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are playing to their full potential.

In Thursday's 7-3 thrashing of the Metropolitan Division rival Washington Capitals, Hughes and Bratt delivered performances we haven't seen out of a Devils player in decades. No, seriously!

With two goals and three assists from Hughes, and a goal and four assists from Bratt, the two Devils superstars became the first players since the legendary Patrik Elias, back on April 5, 2006, to record five points in a single game, according to Devils statistician Nick Cahill. That's almost exactly 20 years to the date.

Further to that point, Hughes has 32 points in 18 games since the Olympic break, which is a 146-point pace over a full 82-game season. Only Nikita Kucherov (33) has more in that same span.

As for Bratt, he has 25 points in those 18 games and ranks 10th in the league since the Olympic break, trailing only the likes of Kucherov, Hughes, Connor McDavid, Martin Necas, Nick Suzuki, Nathan MacKinnon, Cole Caufield, Erik Karlsson, and David Pastrnak.

That's not bad company for a player whose 2025-26 season has largely been criticized and labeled as a disappointment.

Of course, we all would have liked these Devils to show up in December and January, rather than now, when it doesn't matter anymore regarding the playoffs.

But, momentum is real, and cropping up with a historic performance for the franchise is nothing to sneeze at, and it should be celebrated and carried into next season. The final seven games of the year will further determine that.