Hughes scores 2, lifts Devils past Blackhawks in OT
NEWARK, N.J. » Jack Hughes scored his second goal of the game less than a minute into overtime and the New Jersey Devils beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 after blowing a late twogoal lead on Friday night.
Dominik Kubalik and Kirby Dach forced the overtime, scoring in the final 3:53 of regulation with the Blackhawks’ net empty.
Dougie Hamilton scored on his first shot as a Devil and Andreas Johnsson gave his team a 3-1 lead early in the third period. Jonathan Bernier made 24 saves for the Devils, who are looking to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
Alex DeBrincat also scored for Chicago, which is off to an 0-2 start after revamping its roster. Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves after being beaten 17 seconds by Hamilton after the opening faceoff.
Hughes got his game winner on an odd-man rush. He faked a shot in close to get Lankinen out of position and slid the puck into an open net.
Dach narrowed the margin to 3-2 with Chicago on a power play after rookie Dawson Mercer was called for a four-minute high-sticking penalty at 12:49.
Dach got his goal on a rebound in close while Kubalik got his second in two games with 25.5 seconds left in regulation.
Hamilton, who signed a $63 million contract as a free agent, provided instant dividends for New Jersey. He took a pass from Pavel Zacha between the circles and ripped a shot past Lankinen.
The goal was the fastest to start a season for the Devils. The old mark was 26 seconds by Zach Parise in 2006-07.
DeBrincat tied it 51 seconds into the second period on a power play. Standing low in the left circle, he one-timed a perfect cross-ice pass by Patrick Kane past Bernier, who signed with New Jersey as a free agent.
Hughes put New Jersey ahead with 2:02 left in the period. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft collected a loose puck in the left circle, spun and beat Lankinen.
CANUCKS 5, FLYERS 4 (SO)
Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller scored shootout goals and Vancouver scored four times in the second period to lead the Canucks past Philadelphia.
Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux scored over the final 2:17 of regulation in the Flyers’ season opener that tied it 4-all and sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy.
The shootout ended the late-game enthusiasm and sent Vancouver to its first win of the season.
WILD 2, DUCKS 1 » Marcus Foligno scored with 7.2 seconds remaining in regulation to give Minnesota a win over Anaheim.
Foligno beat Anthony Stolarz between his legs from the slot to give the Wild a win in their season opener after dramatically remaking their roster, including buying out franchise stalwarts Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.
Kevin Fiala had a power-play goal and Cam Talbot made 28 saves for Minnesota.
Jakob Silfverberg scored on the power play for the Ducks, and Stolarz made 41 saves.