After an overtime victory a night earlier, the Chicago Blackhawks could not hold a 4-1 lead over the New Jersey Devils and lost, 7-5, Sunday.
Miles Wood got the rally started for New Jersey with a hat trick and four points.
“It certainly felt good,” said Wood, who also had an assist. “We came out a little flat there in the first, but as a group, (we) felt like we responded there in the second and
third, and that’s just the type of character group we have in here. It’s fun to be around.”
Andy Greene, Nico Hischier, Brian Gibbons, and Taylor Hall also scored for the Devils who turned the deficit into a 6-4 lead in the middle frame.
“I think in the second and third, we won more battles and we skated more,” Hischier said. “At the end, I think that makes the difference. They’re a really good team, but we competed really [hard] in the second and the third.”
Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves in picking up the win.
Artem Anisimov, Alex DeBrincat, Jan Rutta, Tanner Kero and Patrick Kane scored goals for the Hawks who could not find another gear to hold off the Devils’ rally.
“They came out with a real strong start and scored some goals early, and we kind of regrouped in between the first and second,” Devils head coach John Hynes said. “I thought we came out better and wound up scoring some goals, and then you could see it was kind of a seesaw match after that.”
[WATCH: All Devils vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Corey Crawford got the start for Chicago and yielded six goals; he was given the hook in the second intermission.
“I don’t know if we thought it was going to be easy the rest of the night or what, but that’s a tough lead to give up,” Kane said.
Anton Forsberg made 12 saves in relief.
“That was probably the most adversity we had in a game this year,” Hynes said. “Down 4-1, pretty much being outcompeted and outplayed, it was something we had to get through together as a group and I thought we did that. It speaks to the tightness of the group, I think it speaks to the character of your leaders and the guys on the team. We didn’t roll over, we fought our way back, and lucky enough for us, we got rewarded for some of our hard work to get ourselves back in the game and then we found a way to win it.”

You must be logged in to post a comment.