Hughes Brothers, Gritsyuk Dismantle Vegas in 5-2 Road Win
New Jersey scored five unanswered goals after falling behind 2-1 late in the first period, walking out of Vegas with a commanding 5-2 victory. The Devils got two goals apiece from Jack Hughes and Arseny Gritsyuk, with Luke Hughes adding one of his own — a genuine family business night in the desert.
The first period was a mess in the best possible way. Luke Hughes opened the scoring at 5:38 with a snap shot, Anthony Mantha picking up the assist. Vegas answered with two goals in 90 seconds — Mark Stone tipped one home off a Mitch Marner feed at 16:27, then Ivan Barbashev wired a wrist shot past Connor Hellebuyck at 17:57, Marner collecting his second assist of the period. The Golden Knights had the lead and the momentum. Then Arseny Gritsyuk happened. With 1:09 left in the first, Gritsyuk buried an unassisted wrist shot to tie it at two. That goal — the one that erased Vegas's lead before the period even ended — looks like the moment the Devils seized control of this game and never let go.
The second period belonged entirely to New Jersey. Jack Hughes put the Devils ahead for good at 3:49, converting a wrist shot off a Jesper Bratt feed to make it 3-2. Then, with under two minutes left in the period, Gritsyuk struck again — a backhand finish off a Jonas Siegenthaler pass — to push it to 4-2. Two goals, two different looks, same result: Vegas was cooked. Adin Hill was busy all night, stopping 27 of 31 shots, but the Devils generated enough quality that Hill's workload tells only part of the story. Hellebuyck, by contrast, faced just 21 shots and allowed two, which appears to reflect how thoroughly New Jersey controlled the game's flow after that first-period deficit.
Jack Hughes closed it out in the third, backhanding his second goal of the night at 17:09 — unassisted, emphatic, unnecessary in terms of the scoreline but entirely on-brand for a player who looked like the best on the ice. The story of the night was New Jersey's resilience: they went down 2-1 late in the first, then scored four straight to make it look easy. Mitch Marner finished with two assists for Vegas and was genuinely excellent, but his contributions didn't translate to a Vegas win — which, for a team that had reportedly just snapped a losing streak before tonight, is a concerning sign. The Devils came into Vegas to wrap up a road trip and left with a statement. Whether that means anything in late October is a fair question, but a 5-2 road win with contributions up and down the lineup is hard to dismiss.