Blackwood's second straight shutout lifts Devils past Canucks

Mackenzie Blackwood
made 25 saves for his second straight shutout in a 4-0 win for the New Jersey Devils against the Vancouver Canucks at Prudential Center on Monday.

The 22-year-old rookie has not allowed a goal in 122:55, since Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron scored with 2:55 remaining in the third period of New Jersey's 5-2 victory on Thursday. Blackwood has made 102 saves on 104 shots in three straight wins, including 37 saves in his first NHL shutout, a 2-0 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Blackwood is the first rookie in Devils history to have back-to-back shutouts.
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Devils highlights]
"It's pretty cool what's going on. I don't really know how to explain it," Blackwood told MSG+. "Things seem to be going pretty good right now, and the team is playing amazing for me. So we'll take that one, for sure. ... The credit goes to the team. They've been playing so good in front of me, making my job a lot easier."
Brian Boyle, Miles Wood, Sami Vatanen and Pavel Zacha scored for New Jersey (15-16-7), which has won three straight games for the first time since opening the season with four consecutive wins. The Devils are 4-1-0 in their past five games after losing 11 of their previous 13 (2-6-5).

Anders Nilsson made 19 saves for the Canucks (19-19-4), who had won their previous two games and were 8-2-1 in their past 11.
"I thought we played a pretty decent game today, all things considered," Vancouver forward Bo Horvat said. "But we have to capitalize on our power play and be better on our special teams. Maybe that might be the difference tonight."
Boyle put the Devils ahead 1-0 at 12:03 of the first period. After Brett Seney shot the puck into the crease, Drew Stafford chipped it on Nilsson and Boyle scored on the rebound for his 10th goal this season.

"We're playing better, I think, top to bottom," Boyle said. "I think the power play has been better. The PK has been pretty good all year. I think you're starting to see a lot of different guys contribute. The guys that were playing well have continued to do that."
Wood made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 18:12, beating Nilsson past the blocker with a snap shot from the top of the right face-off circle. It was Wood's first power-play goal since Dec. 18, 2017, against the Anaheim Ducks.
Vatanen extended the lead to 3-0 with a one-timer on a power play at 1:31 of the third period. The Devils scored on two of their three power-play opportunities.
Zacha beat Nilsson with a slap shot at 3:27 to make it 4-0. He has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past two games.

They said it

"We had a dominating second period, spent probably 14 minutes in the other team's zone and couldn't find a way to score. You give up two power-play goals and you don't score any yourself, I thought that was probably the difference in the game." -- Canucks coach Travis Green
"We're the type of team that needs to have a lot of contributions from different guys on a nightly basis. Mackenzie has come in and played real well. It's nice to see [Zacha] playing well and making an impact. Miles Wood looks like he's turning a corner a little bit and playing more to his identity. When he plays to his identity, he's a much more productive player. That's what we are." -- Devils coach John Hynes

Need to know

Canucks forward Brock Boeser played in his 100th NHL game. He has 86 points (47 goals, 39 assists). ... Vancouver allowed more than two goals for the third time in its past 11 games. ... Devils forward Taylor Hall missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury; he's listed as day to day. Hynes said he's not sure if Hall or forward Marcus Johansson, who has missed five games with an upper-body injury, will travel with the Devils to Dallas, where they begin a four-game road trip Wednesday. ... The Devils assigned defenseman Egor Yakovlev to Binghamton of the American Hockey League on Monday. ... Blackwood was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week ending Dec. 30 after making 77 saves on 79 shots for his first two NHL wins. He is the youngest goalie in Devils history (22 years, 22 days) to have consecutive regular-season shutouts. Martin Brodeur (22 years, 338 days) held the record with back-to-back shutouts on April 5 and 9, 1995. ... Blackwood is the second goaltender in Devils history to have multiple shutouts through his first six NHL regular-season appearances, joining Scott Clemmensen, and is the first NHL rookie to have consecutive shutouts since John Gibson did it with the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 29 and 31, 2015.

What's next

Canucks: At the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Devils: At the Dallas Stars on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-SW+, MSG+, NHL.TV)