Here are some observations from the game:

• What a masterful pass from Jesper Bratt to set up Jack Hughes’ goal in the first period. Bratt had the puck near the far blue line and was looking away from the goal. He lifted a backhanded pass into the air and all the way to the bottom of the near circle and right onto the tape of Hughes, who quickly swept the puck into the goal.

• Hughes’ goal in the first period was the 300^e NHL point of his 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 only the fifth US-born player to reach 300 points before the age of 24^e birthday, along with Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk).

• Meier scored his seventh goal of the season late in the second period with a vicious shot from between the circles. He was on a breakaway, but Florida defenseman Nate Schmidt closed in. So he grabbed the puck and ripped it into the net on the other side. Simple sniper shot. Nothing special, but always so affective.

• Jonas Siegenthaler got a secondary assist on Meier’s goal in the second period and it was a crucial assist. The Panthers were skating through the neutral zone when Tkachuk attempted to send a 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 Dawson eventually found Mercer Meier for his breakaway goal.

• Ondrej Palat made a game-saving backcheck late in the third period when Eetu Luostarinen pulled the puck around Markstrom and had an open net. Palat reached from behind to tie up Luostarinen’s stick, but he couldn’t even get off a shot.

• The Devils penalty kill unit had successfully killed 18 consecutive penalties coming into the game. And the device was only really tested late in the first period. Stefan Noesen took a cutting penalty. But 55 seconds later, Brenden Dillon was assessed a rough penalty for removing Matthew Tkachuk’s helmet. That left the Devils down two men for 65 seconds in the closing minutes of the period.

The Devils managed to kill both penalties and extend their streak to 20 for 20. And they owe a debt of gratitude to their goaltender. Jacob Markstrom made a point-blank save on Carter Verhaeghe, then denied a shot from Tkachuk’s high slot by getting part of his stick on the shot.

Unfortunately, the streak would end there when Reinhart made a shot on the man advantage the following period.

• The game also featured one of the best fights you’ll see all season between Dillon and Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich. The two men threw punch after punch non-stop for 25 seconds straight.

“We have a lot of respect for him for doing that,” Cotter said.