Devils Rally Past Bruins in OT

· Yahoo Sports

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MARCH 16: Paul Cotter #47 of the New Jersey Devils heads for the net to score the game winning goal in overtime past Joonas Korpisalo #70 of the Boston Bruins at Prudential Center on March 16, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. The New Jersey Devils defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images

It’s nights like these that make you wonder, what could have been.

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The New Jersey Devils certainly didn’t look like the hapless, directionless mess of a hockey team that spent the past three-plus months struggling to get out of its own way while plummeting to the darkest depths of the Eastern Conference standings.

Well, maybe a little bit, during that ugly first period.

But the game’s first 15 odd minutes aside, the Devils looked as advertised back in October. Fast. Skilled. Fearless. It was all the more impressive, considering New Jersey is in the sadly, almost annual, “scheduling second week of April tee times” phase of its schedule. Meanwhile, its opponent was literally fighting for its playoff life.

But that didn’t matter to the Devils.

Embracing the role of spoilers, New Jersey shrugged off first-period goals by David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha to rally from a multiple-goal deficit for just the second time this season.

Paul Cotter scored twice, including the game winner with just 6.2 seconds left in overtime, and Jack Hughes added three assists as the Devils beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime on Monday night at Prudential Center.

Boston’s Charlie McAvoy had the game on his stick with 15 seconds to go and hit the right post behind Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom. Dougie Hamilton just beat McAvoy to his rebound, and got the puck to Hughes. Hughes sent a streaking Cotter in all alone on Joonas Korpisalo for the winner.

The goal capped Cotter’s third multi-goal game as a Devil. It was his first since Feb. 2, 2025, when he had two against the Buffalo Sabres. He now has three goals in his last three games after going 23 without a goal.

Monday’s game started as so many Devils games have this season. New Jersey, which has the third-worst goal differential in the first five minutes of games (minus-11), watched Jacob Markstrom give up another bad goal just 4 minutes, 2 seconds in.

Markstrom got really sloppy with the rebound of a shot from the point, putting it directly on Pastrnak’s stick just outside the crease. Pastrnak’s 25th of the season made it 1-0. It was just the Bruins fourth shot on goal.

Former Devil Pavel Zacha, enjoying a career year, notched his 20th of the season at 14:29 of the first to make it 2-0 thanks to a miscommunication between Cotter and defenseman Simon Nemec that led to a 2-on-0.

And if you’ve been watching the Devils this season you could have been pretty confident at this point the game was over. If there’s one thing the 2025-26 Devils don’t do, it’s comeback to win games, especially trailing by more than a goal.

The only previous multi-goal comeback was on New Year’s Eve, when they rallied from 2-0 to beat the Blue Jackets on three third-period goals.

Against the Bruins, it was the second period.

Connor Brown got the comeback started just 32 seconds in by beating Korpisalo on a breakaway.

Jesper Bratt tied it with his second goal in the last five games, one-timing Brown’s pass between the arm and body of Korpisalo at 8:08 of the second.

Cotter made it 3-2 with his first of the night 2:50 into the third.

But the Bruins weren’t finished. Desperately trying to put some distance between themselves and Columbus, which is just two points behind them for the final Wild Card spot, the Bruins got another goal from Pastrnak to even the score at 3-3 just a couple of minutes later.

They tried to push the Devils around throughout the third period, including a hit from Mark Kastelic that left Cotter bloody and earned Jonathan Kovacevic a fighting major. But the Devils were having none of it and were able to get the game to overtime where Cotter notched the winner.

Up Next

New Jersey begins its last multi-game road trip of the season with a trip through the Lincoln Tunnel to take on the New York Rangers in a 7pm game on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. It’s the second of three meetings between the Hudson River rivals. The Devils won the first matchup 6-3 on March 7 thanks to a Jack Hughes’ hat trick. The Rangers, who are dead last in the East, lost to LA 4-1 on Monday night at the Garden.

Your Thoughts

There is very strong argument to be made for running it back next year with almost the same group. I’m not the one making it, but you get these flashes of the way the season should have/could have gone. Injuries really did torpedo the season, much like last year. Would anyone else feel like rolling the dice with this group again, minus a tweak here or there? Or is past precedent and it’s pretty much a given that Jack Hughes will miss a third to a half of the season with injuries and we’ll be right back here next March thinking about lottery picks?

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