Nico Hischier scored twice on the power play, including his 200th career goal, and the New Jersey Devils rallied to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in Newark, N.J.
Jake Allen made 20 saves in his 500th career game to get the win as New Jersey snapped a two-game losing skid.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist, Jesper Boqvist also scored and Jack Hughes had two assists for the Devils, who finished with three goals on the power play to claim their second win of the season. Hischier, who signed a five-year, $58.5 million deal in the offseason, also had an assist.
Linus Karlsson had a goal while Leevi Merilainen and Kevin Lankinen combined to stop 33 shots for the Canucks, who suffered their third-consecutive loss.
Paul Cotter, the NHL’s Third Star of the Week, was held pointless in his first game with the Canucks against his former team.
The teams traded power-play goals to open the scoring in the first period.
Karlsson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with a power play goal on a one-timer after taking a pass from Brock Boeser.
Hischier busted out of an early slump to score his first point of the season and 200th goal to tie it 1-1 with Vancouver forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki off for high-sticking.
The Devils then recorded their first regulation lead of the season by capitalizing on a Canucks’ miscue in the Vancouver zone. Amadeus Lombardi stole the puck from Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek, then took a shot that generated a rebound poked in by forward Boqvist to make it 2-1 at 16:24 of the first.
Boqvist’s goal came against Lankinen, who entered the game after starter Merilainen suffered an equipment malfunction when his skate blade fell out. Merilainen left the game with 5:27 remaining in the first and returned for the start of the second period.
Bratt took advantage of a mad scramble in the Canucks’ crease early in the second, scoring on the power play from a sharp angle with a shot that ricocheted off a couple Vancouver players into the net to give the Devils a two-goal lead.
Hischier finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play for his second power play goal with just 10 seconds left in the second to make it 4-1.
–Field Level Media
