NEWARK, N.J. — Kirby Dach scored in the fifth round of the shootout to lift the Chicago Blackhawks over the New Jersey Devils 2-1 Friday night.
Chicago won its second game in two nights. Corey Crawford preserved the victory by stopping Jack Hughes on the final shootout attempt to cap a night where he won his 250th game. He had 29 saves.
Alex DeBrincat scored in the second period for Chicago, and Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane also connected in the shootout.
Taylor Hall scored for the Devils, who are 0-2 under interim coach Alain Nasreddine. Mackenzie Blackwood had 28 saves, but he was defenceless when Dach roofed his shootout attempt. Nikita Gusev and Jesper Boqvist scored for New Jersey in the shootout, while Kyle Palmieri and Hall were stopped in addition to Hughes.
Hughes, the top pick in this year’s draft, returned to the lineup after missing three games with a lower body injury. Nico Hischier, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, missed the game with an illness.
The teams were tied at 1 after the first two periods with both getting power-play goals.
Hall opened the scoring at 13:31 of the first with the Devils on their third power play. He took a pass from Sami Vatanen at the top of the right circle and rifled a shot past a screened Crawford for his fifth goal.
DeBrincat tied it at 9:35 of the second with the Blackhawks their first power play. Blackwood stopped a shot from low in the right circle by Kane, but the rebound came out the other side of the crease and DeBrincat backhanded his seventh of the season into an empty net.
Both goaltenders had some outstanding saves. Blackwood stopped breakaways by Brandon Saad in the first and second periods, while Crawford came up big on a breakaway by Miles Wood late in the second.
NOTES
DeBrincat has goals in two straight after going 12 without one. … Devils F Wayne Simmonds and Blackhawks D Dennis Gilbert entertained the crowd with good fight in the first period. … Teams play again on Dec. 23 in Chicago. … Blackhawks put D Duncan Keith and F Andrew Shaw on injured reserve Friday. Their spots on the roster were not immediately fill. … Chicago D Olli Maatta missed his second straight game with an illness.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Host Arizona Sunday before heading back on road for three games.
Devils: At Nashville to start four-game road trip.
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Tom Canavan, The Associated Press
