Rookie Jack Hughes scored his first NHL goal, and Mackenzie Blackwood recorded his first shutout of the season as the New Jersey Devils skated to a 1-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday afternoon in Newark, N.J.
Blackwood stopped 25 shots to improve to a perfect 3-0-0 against the Canucks in his career. Two of Blackwood's three career NHL shutouts have come versus Vancouver, as he also made 25 saves to blank the Canucks on Dec. 31.
After erupting for 20 goals (18 scored) over a four-game winning streak, the Canucks fell on Saturday following a lackluster offensive performance. Vancouver received seven power-play chances against the Devils but couldn't convert.
New Jersey has won 10 consecutive games against Vancouver, which last defeated the Devils on Nov. 25, 2014.
A passing sequence between defenseman Sami Vatanen and Taylor Hall resulted in an unmarked Hughes receiving the puck on the near side. Hughes wasted little time in wiring a wrist shot through traffic for his milestone goal.
The first overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, Hughes went without a point in his first six NHL games before recording an assist in the Devils' 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on Thursday.
A large contingent of the Hughes family was on hand to watch the first NHL meeting between Jack and his older brother Quinn, a Canucks defenseman.
Jack Hughes' goal was New Jersey's second on the power play in 26 chances this season. Vancouver entered the game with a league-best 95 percent (19 of 20) penalty kill percentage.
The two teams combined for 40 penalty minutes in the game, 30 of which came during an increasingly chippy second period.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko saved 23 of 24 shots in the hard-luck loss.
The Devils have now won two games in a row after going winless (0-4-2) in their first six of the season.
Captain Andy Greene returned to the lineup after missing New Jersey's previous four games with an upper-body injury.
--Field Level Media
Vancouver | New Jersey | |
N/A | Points | Jack Hughes 1 |
N/A | Goals | Jack Hughes 1 |
N/A | Assists | Taylor Hall 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Jack Hughes 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Thatcher Demko .958 | Save Percentage | Mackenzie Blackwood 1.000 |
Thatcher Demko 23 | Saves | Mackenzie Blackwood 25 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Vancouver | 25 | 0 | 0-6 | 3-4 | 17 | 43 |
New Jersey | 24 | 1 | 1-4 | 6-6 | 23 | 22 |