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RECAP: Devils Beat Blackhawks 8-5

  
RECAP: Devils Beat Blackhawks 8-5
Cam Ward #30 of the Chicago Blackhawks stops a shot on goal by Brett Seney #43 of the New Jersey Devils during the first period at the Prudential Center on January 14, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Chicago Blackhawks entered tonight’s game, on the road, against the New Jersey Devils on a two-game losing streak. However, on a positive note, the Blackhawks have gone four straight games with a power play goal.

Coach Jeremy Colliton called upon goaltender Cam Ward tonight, as the New Jersey Devils ran out Mackenzie Blackwood in net. Ward has played well in four of his last five starts. Blackwood has been excellent in his nine games this season, registering a .947 save percentage and 1.85 goals against average.

Colliton also dressed seven defensemen tonight, giving defenseman Slater Koekkoek his first action in a Blackhawks’ sweater.

This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:

Brandon Saad–Jonathan Toews–Dominik Kahun
Artem Anisimov–Dylan Strome–Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat–David Kampf–Brendan Perlini
Marcus Kruger–Drake Caggiula
Duncan Keith–Erik Gustafsson
Henri Jokiharju–Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom–Connor Murphy
Slater Koekkoek

Period One

This game started out uneventful through the first ten minutes. Midway through the period, Chicago had only registered one shot on goal.

The Blackhawks went to the power play at the 11:43 mark, their second power play of the period, but could not score. Devils’ forward Blake Coleman jumped out of the penalty box, as time expired on his hooking penalty, and found the puck on his stick for an unattested breakaway, and beat Cam Ward to give the Devils a 1 – 0 lead.

New Jersey controlled all of the first period, even though the Blackhawks received the only two power plays. The Devils outshot the sluggish Blackhawks 11 – 5 in the frame.

Period Two

The first period only saw one goal combined, whereas, the second period would end with both teams combining for eight goals.

Patrick Kane would keep his fantastic play rolling this season with a power play goal, assisted by Jonathan Toews and Dylan Strome. Kane’s goal would extend the Blackhawks’ games streak with a power play goal to five.

The game would not be tied for long, however. New Jersey responded less than two minutes later when forward Kyle Palmieri scored, putting the Devils up 2 – 1. Palmieri beat Ward top-shelf, giving Palmieri his first of two consecutive goals.

https://twitter.com/NJDevils/status/1084983159773691904

His second goal came at the 8:17 mark, with the man advantage, as a shot snuck through a few Blackhawk defenders and beat Ward five-hole, giving the Devils a 3 – 1 lead. Ward appeared to be screened on the play.

The Devils would strike again, at the 10:07 mark, when forward Travis Zajac found a loose puck on the doorstep after forward Miles Wood drove hard on Ward. Ward slid to his right, leaving his crease open, thinking he had covered the puck, as the puck trickled toward the goal. Zajac’s goal extended the lead to 4 – 1.

Defenseman Sami Vatanen would give the Devils’ their fourth consecutive goal less than five minutes later. Vatanen fired a one-timer past Ward from the top of the circle, for another Devils’ power play goal.

Another goal by the Devils, which would be the game-winner, gave the home team a five-goal lead. Forward Kevin Rooney found a loose puck in front after forward Drew Stafford took the puck hard to the net and was stopped by Ward. Rooney’s follow up attempt gave the Devil his first career NHL goal.

https://twitter.com/CMS_74_/status/1084987464006225920

To the Blackhawks credit, the team responded to the Devils’ onslaught of goals with back-back-back goals to finish off the period.

Patrick Kane scored his second of the night after defenseman Henri Jokiharju fed a perfect pass to Kane, who fired a one-timer passed Blackwood.

Only forty-two second later, Brent Seabrook took a feed from Kane and beat Blackwood with a quick shot. The goal gave Seabrook his fifth of the season and 100th goal of his career.

Period Three

With the score 6 – 3 in favor of the Devils, Colliton decided to switch goaltenders and start the third period, placing Collin Delia between the pipes. Delia would stop 14 of the 15 shots he would face.

Forward Brett Seney extended the Devils lead back to four with his fourth goal of the season. Seney received a pass from forward Jesper Bratt and one-timed a shot past Delia.

Chicago answered thirty-eight seconds later when Dominik Kahun netted his seventh goal of the season. Carl Dahlstrom slid a pass across ice to Kahun at the right dot and fired a wrist-shot blocker side beating Blackwood. The goal would cut the lead to 7 – 4 but Chicago would not be done with their comeback attempt.

With under ninety seconds to play, forward Brandon Saad scored his thirteenth of the season when Kane found Saad, near left dot, and fired a shot passed Blackwood. The assist gave Kane four points on the night.

Chicago did not go down without a “fight.” Drake Caggiula would drop the gloves with defenseman Ben Lovejoy as the rest of the players tussled to the ice.

Delia was pulled for an extra-attacker when Coleman found the empty net at the 19:26 mark, giving the Devils the 8 – 5 victory. The goal gave Coleman his second of the night.

Chicago would be outshot by New Jersey 41 – 32. Tonight’s game is the ninth straight game the Blackhawks have given up at least 32 shots on net.

Pluses

  • Patrick Kane registered four points tonight (2 goals, 2 assists) and played 28:50 in the game. Kane was all over the ice and finished a +2 in an 8 – 5 loss. He’s playing at an MVP level.
  • Collin Delia stopped 14-of-15 shots he faced. After the showing by Cam Ward, it was a breath of fresh air to see a calm rookie play a sound period. Tonight’s game should have been a night off but he was prepared to keep his team in the game.
  • Chicago was scored on the man advantage tonight (1 for 4). That’s five straight games with a power play goal.
  • Chicago won 58% of the draws tonight, as every player was over 50% at the dot.

Minuses

  • Erik Gustafsson was benched for his poor defensive play. The defenseman registered only 14:17 of ice time.
  • Cam Ward stopped 19 of the 25 shots he faced tonight. This should have been a rest day for Delia. Ward just needs to be “serviceable” to give the youngster a breather.
  • In 21:36 minutes of ice time, Duncan Keith managed to be -5. That’s impressive.
  • The penalty kill was 0-for-2 tonight.
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