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 On Thursday night, New Jersey's early-season turnaround reached
another milestone. The Devils completed a season sweep against the
Blackhawks with a 3-2 win, marking their second victory against the
defending champions in the past seven days.
New Jersey (9-6-1) earned its ninth win in the past 12 games.
"It's huge," said center Adam Henrique, who scored the Devils' first
goal. "Our confidence has been building from the start. We know
what's in here, and I think we're showing that."
Left winger Sergey Kalinin scored the tiebreaking goal on the power
play with 2:27 remaining in the third period. Kalinin and right
winger Kyle Palmieri each finished with a goal and an assist.
Blackhawks right winger Patrick Kane notched a goal and an assist.
Left winger Artemi Panarin added a goal for Chicago (8-7-1), which
lost in regulation on home ice for only the second time in 10 games.
"I can't fault the game tonight," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville
said. "I thought we did a lot of good things. We generated zone
time, shots, traffic, everything we look for."
Devils goaltender Cory Schneider appeared ready for all of it. He
stopped 27 of 29 shots, extending his streak to six consecutive
games of limiting opponents to two goals or fewer.
Schneider made his best stop early in the third period. Kane blasted
a one-timer from the left of the crease, but Schneider reacted fast
and extended his right-leg pad to make the save. Schneider also
stopped rookie left winger Marko Dano late in the first period by
using his stick to deflect a shot off the crossbar.
"We needed Cory to be one of the best players on the ice tonight,
and he was," New Jersey coach John Hynes said.
Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford turned aside 19 of 22 shots.
Kalinin scored on a rebound that put New Jersey ahead with 2:27
remaining in the third period. Crawford stopped a shot from the left
circle by defenseman David Schlemko, but Kalinin stood alone in
front of the crease to punch in his second goal of the season.
"You see his game continue to progress and mature," Hynes said of
Kalinin. "He's working his way into becoming a real important player
and a guy that we count on in multiple situations."
The Blackhawks trailed for most of the third period before Panarin
evened the score at 2. The Russian rookie lifted a wrist shot from
the left circle for his fifth goal with 6:41 to go in regulation.
Chicago opened the scoring during a 5-on-3 power play with 13:18
remaining in the first period. Center Jonathan Toews slipped a pass
across the crease to Kane, who fired a one-timer past Schneider for
his 11th goal. Kane increased his point streak to 11 games, which
marks the longest streak in the NHL this season.
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Fifty-nine seconds into the second period, New Jersey evened the
score at 1. Henrique carried the puck into the offensive zone and
surprised Crawford with a rising wrist shot for his team-leading
eighth goal.
Palmieri gave the Devils a 2-1 lead when he punched in a rebound
with 2:59 to go in the second period.
New Jersey improved to 5-2-0 on the road and earned its first win in
Chicago since Nov. 3, 2010.
"What we're really happy with, even more than the record, is the way
that the team has come together," Hynes said. "Guys are playing for
one another. There's a lot of belief in how we're playing."
Meanwhile, Chicago lost for the fourth time in the past seven games.
"We have to come together as a team here," right winger Andrew Shaw
said. "I think we played a good game tonight. A couple of bounces
didn't go our way.
"Letting them score late in the game like that, it's not acceptable.
We're going to learn from this game and move forward."
NOTES: Chicago RW Brandon Mashinter made his season debut a day
after he was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League.
Mashinter, 27, appeared in 23 games in parts of three seasons with
the New York Rangers and San Jose Sharks. ... New Jersey LW Stefan
Matteau returned to the lineup after sitting out the past seven
games as a healthy scratch. ... Chicago LW Ryan Garbutt, RW Viktor
Tikhonov and D David Rundblad were healthy scratches. ... New Jersey
RW Jiri Tlusty and D Eric Gelinas were healthy scratches. ...
Chicago D Duncan Keith missed his 10th consecutive game because of a
knee injury. Keith is eligible to return from long-term injured
reserve Saturday against the St. Louis Blues.
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