Photo: Andrew MacLean
In a midweek matchup at the United Center, the Devils, with a recent string of losses weighing on their shoulders, faced a Blackhawks team that has been enduring a tough stretch of games themselves; the game, ending in a 5-3 victory for New Jersey, saw both teams display moments of notable resilience, creating a narrative that extended beyond the final score. Luke Hughes finished the game with three assists, while Dawson Mercer recorded both a goal and an assist for the Devils. The Blackhawks' setback was particularly disheartening, coming from their recent 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, which had snapped a seven-game losing streak. On Friday, March 28th, the Devils take on the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre, while the Blackhawks host the Vegas Golden Knights.
New Jersey Devils Lineup:
Palat - Hischier - Meier
Haula - Mercer - Bratt
Cotter - Dowling - Noesen
Tatar - Lazar - Bastian
Hughes - Pesce
Dumoulin - Kovacevic
Dillon - Nemec
Markstrom
Allen
Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:
Donato - Nazar - Bedard
Teravainen - Foligno - Mikheyev
Kurashev - Veleno - Bertuzzi
Slaggert - Reichel - Maroon
Vlasic - Crevier
Del Mastro - Murphy
Kasier - Levshunov
Knight
Soderblom
Nathan Bastian scored his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring and put New Jersey ahead 1-0, tipping in a centering pass from Luke Hughes at the top of the crease. Hughes received a pass from Tomas Tatar, who had gotten the puck from Brett Pesce right off the face-off before Luke skated up and made a quick pass to Bastian at 13:37 of the first period. Not long after the first Devils' tally at 13:11, Timo Meier struck on the power play to make it 2-0 when Hughes made a pass to Dawson Mercer, who got the puck along the goal line and put a shot on net, which had been knocked down in front before Meier stuffed it in past Spencer Knight for his 23rd of the season. Tyler Bertuzzi cut the lead to 2-1 with 10:54 on the clock on the power play after he was fed by Ryan Donato for a tap-in at the left post. Donato drove in through the right circle after Artyom Levshunov dove to keep the puck in at the blue line.
Early into the second, Ondrej Palat put home his 14th of the season to make it 3-1 during Chicago's power play at 16:46. He took a drop pass from Jesper Bratt in the right circle after he had handed the puck over to him down in the neutral zone, and fired a wrist shot past Knight. Ilya Mikheyev pulled the Blackhawks within 3-2 at 14:34 on his 17th goal of the season off a backhanded pass from Teuvo Teravainen, scoring from the slot. Soon after the second Hawks tally, it appeared that Donato knotted it up, but the goal was disallowed after video review had determined his stick was over the crossbar on a tip-in moment. Dawson Mercer restored the Devils' two-goal lead with 8:59 on the clock in the middle frame after their first attempt bounced out and Hughes got ahold of the puck, making a pass over to Mercer, who scored on a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 4-2 for his 16th of the season.
Frank Nazar cut the lead with his seventh goal of the season to 4-3 late into the third, while the Blackhawks had an empty net when Teravainen handed the puck over to Connor Bedard, who passed to Levshunov, who fired it, and Nazar finished the rebound in front at 2:50. With 13 seconds left to play, Stefan Noesen scored an empty-netter on his 20th of the season for the 5-3 final.
Notes:
- Jacob Markstrom made a total of 21 saves for New Jersey, and Spencer Knight made a total of 15 saves for Chicago.
- Jesper Bratt picked up a pair of assists.
- Luke Hughes had his seventh multi-assist game of the season. In the first period, he picked up both his 30th and 31st assists of the year, becoming the first Devils defenseman with consecutive 30-assist seasons since Brian Rafalski (6 from 2000-01 to 2006-07).
- Artyom Levshunov picked up a pair of assists.
- Tyler Bertuzzi has recorded at least one 20-goal season with three Original Six teams (also Detroit and Toronto), becoming the sixth player in NHL history to do so, following Roy Conacher, Phil Esposito, Frank Mahovlich, Mark Osborne, and Dean Prentice.
- Cody Glass is not in the lineup at the start of the road trip due to an undisclosed injury. According to Keefe, he is being evaluated and could join the Devils at some point on the trip.
- Stefan Noesen hit his career first 20-goal season and matched a career high for points in one campaign (also 37 with the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2023-24 season).
- With his assist on Noesen's goal, Nico Hischier extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, four assists), which ties his career high set in the 2022-23 season.
- With his goal, Timo Meier has four goals in his past five games.
- The Devils moved nine points ahead of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
- The Blackhawks lost eight of nine (1-7-1), and the Devils lost three straight (0-2-1).
- NJ: 38-28-7, CHI: 21-42-9
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