Hamilton scores twice on power play in Devils win against Kraken

NEWARK, N.J. --Dougie Hamilton scored two power-play goals to extend his point streak to six games, and the New Jersey Devils won their third in a row, 3-1 against the Seattle Kraken at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Hamilton has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) during the streak. He has an NHL career-high 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) in 51 games, the fewest needed to reach 50 points by a defenseman in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history.
"I think it's just opportunity to play with good players and get in those spots," Hamilton said. "That's pretty much it for me. I don't think about it too much, just try to keep playing and get better. I think I can play better still. I think it's working, but I need to play better still."
Ondrej Palat had two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for New Jersey (34-13-4), which played without leading scorer Jack Hughes (67 points), who is week to week with an upper-body injury.
The Devils blocked 27 shots, went 2-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, including a 5-on-3 early in the second period that lasted 1:04.
"It's been about the team all year, really," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "[Jack] had a great first 50 games, you can't disguise that at all. But at the same time, we've made this about the team, and we need other guys. So, if you look at tonight [and] you look at the blocked shots, you look at Blackwood's play, you look at the penalty killers, you look at what the power play did.
"Jack has been a big part of the power play, so the power play stepped up in Jack's absence. There's a lot of good things inside the game."

Adam Larsson scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves for Seattle (29-17-5), which has lost the first two of a five-game road trip that continues Friday at the New York Rangers.
"We were good enough to win," Larsson said. "Sometimes you fall short."
The Kraken played without leading scorer Andre Burakovsky (39 points), who is week to week with a lower-body injury he sustained in a 4-0 loss at the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
"We had good looks tonight," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "Both goaltenders were good, especially in the first half of this hockey game. We had good opportunities on the 5-on-3 power play. We had some good opportunities. So, I don't want to get too frustrated over that. We've got to continue generating those opportunities and look to finish them."
The Devils allowed three shots on goal during the 5-on-3 after Hamilton was called for interference at 3:41 of the second period and Kevin Bahl was given a two-minute minor for holding at 4:37.
"I thought 'Blacky' gave us a couple really solid saves, one rebound in front of the net and a couple of one-timers off the side where he got there," Ruff said. "I thought he just moved so well. He was there waiting for almost every shot."

But Larsson gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 14:05 with a wrist shot from the right point through traffic.
Hamilton tied it 24 seconds later with a power-play goal after Will Borgen was called for cross-checking Palat at 14:22. Following an offensive-zone face-off, Tomas Tatar retrieved the puck behind the goal line by gaining inside position on Jamie Oleksiak and passed to Palat. He then fed Hamilton for a one-timer from atop the circles that beat Grubauer glove side.
"We missed an assignment there," Hakstol said.
Hamilton credited Tatar for his work on setting up the goal.
"That was all him," Hamilton said. "Lose the draw, should go down the other way, and he makes a great play to break it up and put it out to 'Pally.' That's just a great play by him."
Hamilton scored his second power-play goal at 10:00 of the third period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. Again, he received a pass from Palat for a one-timer from atop the circles that went off Brandon Tanev before beating Grubauer top shelf blocker side.
"I just saw him and he's winding up so I'm just trying to pass it to him," Palat said. "He has a great shot and I'm glad it went in for him."

John Marino scored an empty-net goal at 18:49 for the 3-1 final.
"It comes down to special teams," Kraken forward Alex Wennberg said. "We have an opportunity to score, we don't and they scored two of them."
NOTES:Hamilton is the first defenseman in New Jersey history to reach 50 points in a season since Brian Rafalski had 55 in 2006-07. He surpassed his previous NHL career high of 50 points (13 goals, 37 assists) in 81 games with the Calgary Flames in 2016-17 points. Hamilton has 16 multi-point games this season, one short of tying Scott Stevens' team record for most multi-point games by a defenseman (17). … Devils forward Jesper Bratt had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (six points; two goals, four assists). ... New Jersey is 10-1-1 since Jan. 7, including five straight wins at home. ... Devils forward Alexander Holtz had one shot on goal in 9:52 in his first game since Jan. 7. ... Kraken defenseman Justin Schultz had one shot on goal and one blocked shot in 17:00 of ice time after missing six games with an undisclosed injury. ... Larsson's goal was Seattle's 100th on the road in 25 games this season. Its is tied for first in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks (28 games).