Photo: Andrew MacLean
After a 3-1 victory against Los Angeles on Thursday, the Devils returned home to Prudential Center to host the Blackhawks on Saturday, December 14th. The Devils raced past the Blackhawks to secure their second win straight, defeating them 4-1 after Chicago held a 1-0 lead. Dawson Mercer tied the game, then Jack Hughes struck the game-winning goal to break the tie and help the Devils rally past the Hawks, and both Nico Hischier and Timo Meier scored to get four goals for New Jersey. Jason Dickinson scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks. It had been an unfortunate loss for Chicago after they defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 to snap their five-game losing streak on Monday, then lost in a close game 5-4 against the New York Islanders on Thursday before heading to New Jersey to take on the Devils. The Devils head out to St. Louis to take on the Blues on Tuesday, and the Blackhawks head home to United Center to host the Islanders.
Devils Lineup:
Palat - Hischier - Bratt
Meier - Hughes - Mercer
Cotter - Haula - Noesen
MacDermid - Dowling - Bastian
Dillon - Hamilton
Siegenthaler - Kovacevic
Hughes - Pesce
Markstrom
Poulter
Blackhawks Lineup:
Donato - Bedard - Kurashev
Hall - Nazar - Bertuzzi
Foligno - Dickinson - Mikheyev
Maroon - Reichel - Teravainen
Vlasic - Kaiser
Allan - Murphy
Korchinski - Brodie
Commesso
Soderblom
Jason Dickinson scored to put the Blackhawks in a 1-0 lead after a scoreless opening period with his sixth goal of the season with 6:29 left in the middle frame. Kevin Korchinski had the puck back in Chicago's zone, passing it down to TJ Brodie, who was at the blue line and entered the neutral zone with the puck. Brodie then passed it to Nick Foligno, who made it up to the net before sending a backhand pass to Dickinson for a snap shot that hit the crossbar, popped back out, and went in off Luke Hughes in front. Prior to Chicago's goal, Tyler Bertuzzi came close to scoring when he drove to the slot off a face-off for a backhand, but it hit the crossbar.
Early into the third, Dawson Mercer tied it up 1-1 off a pass from Luke Hughes just outside the crease. Mercer tapped in Hughes's pass at 17:15 after passing the puck on the way through Chicago's zone to Timo Meier, who carried it around the back of the net and fed it across to Hughes, who then sent it to Mercer. Jack Hughes struck for his 13th of the season to untie the 1-1 knot at 9:33 after the Devils were holding the puck in the offensive zone for an extended period. Brett Pesce, who had been along the right boards with the puck, passed it to Hughes, who sent a snap shot past Drew Commesso from the slot. A few minutes later, Nico Hischier made it 3-1 at 7:44 on a 3-on-2 when he carried the puck through the neutral zone, passed it to Jesper Bratt, then right back to Hischier for a wrist shot. Only 18 seconds later, Timo Meier went for the 4-1 final when he put in a wrist shot off a rebound from Dawson Mercer.
Dawson Mercer on the third, what needs to be cleaned up in both the first and second periods and patience: "We just stuck with it. We're getting some chances, we just want to make sure we create a bit more, and I think we did that. We put pucks to the net and good things happen. We had a nice stretch there of a few shifts, and it really paid off," - "I think just the mentality, sticking with it and playing simple. When you get opportunities, take advantage of them, you don't want to be trading chances back and forth. - Obviously, we all love scoring, getting chances, and having the puck on our sticks, but sometimes it's not happening and you just stick with being patient. I think that was a prime example of tonight. Into the third period, all of a sudden, we got four goals on the board. So, I think it just happened and it clicked, and then we just rolled with it and shut them down."
Jason Dickinson on what went wrong: "You get tired - they're a good team that can move around. They're shifty, they get a good ozone change, fresh guys jump on the ice, and a guy comes right down the slot, and scores. Our lines jump out there, and then we let in another one. It's just one of those things where you got to mitigate the mistakes so that when they happen, it's once and we move on, but it seems like it happens and it happens again... We're feeling the pressure. We want to do so much, we do somebody else's job, but we should just trust him to do his job. Protect the backside, protect the net-front, protect the drop, you know, all sorts of different areas that you want to do so much good that if in a way, it unfolds."
Notes:
- Jacob Markstrom made a total of 16 saves for New Jersey, and Drew Commesso made a total of 20 saves for Chicago in his first NHL start. ...Commesso had been playing in his second NHL game after he made two saves in relief in a 5-4 loss against the New York Islanders on Thursday.
- Jack Hughes scored his 20th career game-winning goal, tying Zach Parise for the most by a Devils skater before the age of 24.
- Jesper Bratt picked up his 400th NHL career point, both Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier recorded a goal and an assist, and Bratt and Brett Pesce each picked up a pair of assists. ...Mercer took a puck to the face on Thursday against the LA Kings, needing 16 stitches both inside and outside of his mouth, and came back with a cage.
- With their final three goals coming in 2:06, the Devils have scored three goals faster at home three times in the past 25 years; November 28th, 2009 (2:02), October 14th, 2019 (1:55), and February 6th, 2023 (50 seconds). ...The Devils scored four goals in the third period for the first time since doing so against the San Jose Sharks on February 27th.
- The Blackhawks have lost seven of eight.
- Connor Bedard nearly put the Blackhawks in front just 38 seconds into the first period on a 2-on-1 with a wrister from the right face-off circle off the left post, and he could have extended the Hawks' lead 55 seconds into the third frame on a breakaway with a wrist shot on a power play.
- Teuvo Teravainen, who was skating in his 700th NHL career game, had one shot on goal in 16:32. ...Wyatt Kaiser had blocked six shots in 16:41.
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