The Devils are playing without injured stars Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, but they’re still capable of putting together dominant stretches of puck possession. They did it sporadically against the Blue Jackets, including a three-goal first period aided by a power play and two fortunate bounces.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists, Luke Hughes added a goal and an assist, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3.

Cotter was scratched in the Devils’ prior game against the Flyers on Sunday, then he was called for a holding penalty early into the first period against the Blue Jackets. Now, he was roaring, “Let’s (expletive) go” with his teammates while celebrating in the corner of the rink.

Paul Cotter will return to the New Jersey Devils lineup after being a healthy scratch on Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers.

With the win, the Devils now have a six-point lead (76-70) on Columbus, who is chasing New Jersey, in the Metro Division standings. With the Blue Jackets having played two less games than the Devils (64-66), it was a pivotal win for the Devils to get some breathing room in the playoff chase.

The New Jersey Devils defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 in one of the biggest games of the season thus far.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists, Luke Hughes added a goal and an assist, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 on Tuesday night.