Devils win 1st game without Jack Hughes against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- The New Jersey Devils won their first game without Jack Hughes, 4-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

The forward is listed as week to week with an upper-body injury, which he sustained when he crashed into the end boards in a 4-1 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Friday. Hughes has 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) this season, which is tied with Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson for the NHL lead.

Dawson Mercer and Max Willman each scored his first goal of the season for the Devils (7-3-1), who have won four of five. Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves.

“Life’s a lot better, that’s for sure,” said Curtis Lazar, who also scored. “The two points is first and foremost. Again, we fought hard. Did not start well at all, pretty sloppy, moving pucks slow, just our execution wasn’t there.

“We took it upon ourselves here to [say], ‘Enough is enough, let’s bear down, let’s push the pace, let’s simplify our game.’ You saw, as the game went on, we started to do that. We generated more looks. Ultimately, it got a little dicey at the end there. Teams are going to push, but we got the job done.”

Taylor Hall and Ryan Donato scored, and Arvid Soderblom made 36 saves for the Blackhawks (4-7-0), who were coming off a 5-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday. Connor Bedard's goal streak ended at three games.

Chicago held a players-only meeting after the game.

“Essentially just being accountable and playing with the system we’ve installed through training camp and through the first few games of the season,” forward Corey Perry said of the meeting. “We do it in spurts, but we’ve got to do it for the full game. We had a good heart to heart, and we’ll move on.”

Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson was not part of the meeting.

“I wasn’t in on it, and that’s good,” Richardson said. “I think they hear enough from me before and during the game. If they feel there’s something that needs to be said, it usually goes a longer way when the leadership guys and whoever feels a need to speak speaks up.”

Hall gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 1:51 of the first period with his second goal in as many games. He scored on the rebound of a shot by Tyler Johnson from just outside the crease.

Mercer tied it 1-1 at 13:07 with a power-play goal. He took a pass from Erik Haula along the goal line, skated in and scored with a wrist shot over Soderblom’s left shoulder.

Willman, who was called up from Utica of the American Hockey League on Saturday, put New Jersey ahead 2-1 at 14:41, scoring on a breakaway after Blackhawks defenseman Kevin Korchinski couldn't control the puck at the blue line.

It was Willman's first goal since March 27, 2022 with the Philadelphia Flyers.

“We played the other night in Rochester, and when we got back from the road trip, coach [Kevin Dineen] gave me the news,” Willman said. “Quick turnaround, pack the bags and hop on a flight and meet the guys here. Definitely exciting last couple of days.”

Vanecek preserved the lead with just over a minute left in the period when he moved from left to right to make a sprawling save on Johnson.

“That save was one of those highlight-reel [ones],” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Should motivate your team and I thought it did. Gave us a chance right there to gain momentum and take the game away.”

Lazar made it 3-1 at 4:35 of the third period. After John Marino was stopped by Soderblom on a breakaway, the defenseman picked up the puck and skated to the left circle, where his shot was tipped in by Lazar.

Donato cut it to 3-2 at 15:14 on the rebound of his own shot, but Michael McLeod scored an empty-net goal with one second remaining for the 4-2 final.

“We’ve just got to rely on each other more,” Donato said. “It’s tough. We showed up tonight, and we can say what we want to do, sometimes we don’t execute. I think it’s just holding each other accountable, growing as a team and becoming a brotherhood like a lot of guys have said in here.

“The more we can rely on each other, the more we can grow as a team. Obviously, tonight it hurt a little bit. A lot of the things we preach, we didn’t do. It came back to bite us.”