NEWARK, NJ - The heat was on high between the New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks, who may have developed the NHL's newest rivalry after just a single game against one another.
The referees were kept busy as Brendan Smith hit on Chicago star Connor Bedard turned the heat up on the game.
Between penalties, fights, and everything in between, the Devils fought back twice from being down a goal to take their first lead of the game with 8:04 to play against Chicago on a goal by Michael McLeod. New Jersey, gritty in every way on Friday night, pick up the 4-2 victory against the Blackhawks.
With the Devils trailing 1-0 after one, Alexander Holtz tied the game at one firing into an open net wtih Chicago's netminder Arvid Soderblom caught out of position. Holtz capitalized because of unparalled patience from defenseman Simon Nemec, allowing Holtz to position himself in his ideal shooting spot. The goal was Holtz's ninth of the season and Nemec's fifth assist of the year.
"Nemec got the puck to the point and was finding me," Holtz said of Nemec's setup of his goal. "He dived down, did a bit of a spin-o-rama so I can find a little bit of open ice and he saw me."
Boris Katchouk gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead with a shorthanded goal in the final minutes of the second period. Jason Dickenson scored Chicago's opening goal at 15:50 of the first.
With Chicago leading in the first period Smith laid a booming hit on Bedard, catching him off-guard as the 18-year-old skated through the neutral zone, into the offensive zone, splitting Dawson Mercer and Erik Haula, trying to find the open space. Smith caught him in the slot, and immediately a melee ensued on top of the Devils defender as Bedard left the ice and made his way to the Chicago locker room.
“I think it’s a good hit, it’s unfortunate where he got him, you don’t want to see that," head coach Lindy Ruff said, "I think at different times all young players learn that there’s different areas where… I mean, I learned the hard way, I got knocked out cold, had a little sleep along the blue line, woke me up, took me off. You’ve got to be aware. There was no intent or anything, it was just a solid hit.”
That hit changed the game into a penalty-filled affair - with a couple of goals sprinkled in between.
“We had a real hockey game break out,” Ruff added, “I told the guys, ‘we’ve got some hockey, we’ve got some hockey to play, chins up here’. It was fun, it was entertaining, that brings teams together right there.”
Shortly after Smith's hit, Chicago's Kevin Korchinski caught Nico Hischier with a thunderous body check into the half wall, causing the Devils captain to get up off the ice slowly and he too went to the locker room. Hischier was able to return to finish the game, while Bedard did not.
It was Nemec who struck again with his second point of the night, scoring his first goal at Prudential Center to tie the game at 2, and Michael McLeod, for the second straight night, scored the game-winning goal, crashing the net for his 10th goal of the season.
McLeod became the sixth Devils player with at least 10 goals, with only two other clubs in the NHL with the same or more than New Jersey. The Stars have seven players with 10 or more goals, while the Canucks, who the Devils host tomorrow, have six.
Tyler Toffoli added the empty net goal with 27 seconds left and New Jersey picked up a gritty victory.
Jack Hughes left the game with just over five minutes to play, head coach Ruff saying simply he wasn't able to return.
