VANCOUVER — The New Jersey Devils scored goals 22 seconds apart in the first period then used some key stops by goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 Sunday.
Wayne Simmonds, on the power play, and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils (5-7-4). Blackwood made 30 saves.
Brock Boeser, on a power play, scored for the Canucks (9-6-3), who are winless in their last four games (0-3-1).
The Canucks are also 0-8-3 in their last 11 games against New Jersey.
The Devils had lost their two previous games but are 5-3-2 in their last 10.
Canuck goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 shots.
Early in the third period Blackwood stopped Vancouver’s Tanner Pearson on a rush, then watched as the rebound went wide of the net. Later he used his stick to steer a Boeser blast wide. In the second period Blackwood made a pad save on an Adam Gaudette shot.
It took less then 30 seconds for the Devils to build a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Simmonds opened the scoring at 11:48. Taylor Hall sent a pass into the Canucks zone that Kyle Palmieri directed to Simmonds. He put it past Markstrom for the Devils’ second road power-play goal of the season.
Bratt quickly made it 2-0 at 12:10 when he deflected a Damon Severson point shot into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
The Canucks had dodged a bullet a few minutes earlier on a Devils power play. Hall redirected a puck that got by Markstrom and slowly slid toward the open corner before defenceman Tyler Myers swept it off the goal line.
Boeser’s goal at 12:40 of the second period made the score 2-1. He took J.T. Miller’s pass, used his speed to skate into the Devils zone, then beat Blackwood with a low shot to the far corner. The goal came a few minutes after Markstrom had stopped Hall on a breakaway.
It was the second head-to-head brother clash between Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes, the 20-year-old defenceman picked seventh overall in the 2018 draft, and Jack Hughes, the 18-year-old centre picked No. 1 by the Devils in this year’s draft. In an Oct. 19 meeting Jack Hughes scored his first NHL goal in the Devils 1-0 win over the Canucks.
On Sunday, Quinn Hughes earned an assist on Boeser’s goal while Jack was kept off the scoresheet.
NOTES
Both teams were playing their third game in four days and both had suffered back-to-back regulation time losses. …Adam Gaudette replaced Loui Eriksson in the Canucks’ lineup. … To support Hockey Fights Cancer the Canucks wore lavender warmup jerseys. … Prior to Simmonds’ goal the Devils’ power play was 1-for-25 on the road. … In their back-to-back losses to Calgary on Thursday and Edmonton Friday the Devils were outscored 9-2. … Vancouver’s Brandon Sutter played in his 701st career game. He is the sixth member of the Sutter family to play 700 or more games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2019.
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press