Devils 6, Islanders 5: The chem was evident

Led by Jack Hughes and the new-look top line, the Devils were able to grind out a win and keep their perfect preseason record alive.

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The New Jersey Devils moved to 5-0 in preseason play with another victory in an exciting, back-and-forth affair vs. the New York Islanders.

Some observations:

The new top line is here to stay

Preseason hockey is all about experimenting with different combinations and finding things that work. Through two games as a trio it is safe to say the Tyler Toffoli, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt line works. Lindy Ruff has struck gold.

They accounted for a pair of goals against a solid Rangers squad and followed that up by completely ripping apart an even more NHL-heavy Islanders team.

Their chem was evident from the word go. They were dancing around the offensive zone, seemingly always knowing where the other would be and connecting on the kind of passing plays you’d expect to see on a 5-on-3 against San Jose in the middle of December.

Preseason or not, it was impressive a professional Islanders squad – backed by arguably the best goaltender in the sport – had absolutely no answers for how to slow them down.

We already knew the Hughes-Bratt duo was one of the more prolific combinations in the league. Toffoli has fit alongside them seamlessly, making smart reads with and without the puck to find open space and get to high-danger areas.

Jack Hughes looks like he’s ready to breeze past 100 points while Jesper Bratt seems poised for a career year. It is crazy that this line has potential to be borderline unstoppable; and there’s a unit featuring Nico Hischier (80 points) and Timo Meier (40 goals) right ‘behind’ them.

John Marino looks ready for more