Nico Hischier’s goal early in the first period Tuesday night sparked another wire-to-wire collective win for the red-hot New Jersey Devils, who beat the host Vancouver Canucks 5-2.
Michael McLeod, Dawson Mercer, Yegor Sharangovich and Jack Hughes also scored for the Devils, who have won four straight — their longest winning streak since they won their first four games of the 2018-19 season.
Seven players scored a goal apiece for New Jersey in a 7-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. Hischier is the only player to score in each of the last two wins.
Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves Tuesday night.
Bo Horvat scored twice for the Canucks, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Thatcher Demko recorded 32 saves.
Hischier scored 4:36 into the first and just eight seconds into a power play. After winning a faceoff with Horvat, Hischier skated to the right of Demko, where the center placed his stick down for a pass from Jasper Bratt and tucked the puck into the wide open corner of the net.
The Devils doubled their lead with 1:56 left in the first, when McLeod scored on the rebound of a rebound by Miles Wood, who had pounced on the puck after Demko turned back a shot by Nathan Bastian.
The Devils scored a short-handed goal with four seconds left on the Canucks’ power play. Mercer finished off a 2-on-1 when he took a pass from Sharangovich, who dished behind the feet of a sliding Oliver Ekman-Larsson and flicked a forehand into the upper corner of the net at 9:25.
Sharangovich capped another 2-on-1 opportunity barely two minutes later. John Marino’s clearing pass hit Jesper Boqvist in stride before Boqvist passed behind Horvat and to Sharangovich, who fired a shot past the stick of a sprawling Demko with 8:23 remaining.
The Canucks scored just eight seconds into a power play with 3:37 left in the second. Horvat won a faceoff with Hischier before sending his shot from the slot past Blackwood, who was screened by teammate Jonas Siegenthaler as he battled with Andrei Kuzmenko.
Horvat scored another power-play goal after Demko was pulled with 3:37 left, but Hughes scored an empty netter with 1:02 left to end any comeback hopes for the Canucks.
–Field Level Media
