J. Hughes has 4 points, Devils rally past Blackhawks with 3 goals in 3rd

Jack Hughes had two goals and two assists, including scoring 19 seconds after Dougie Hamilton tied it in the third period for the New Jersey Devils in a 5-3 come-from-behind win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday.

Hamilton tied it 3-3 at 14:32, taking a cross-ice pass from Hughes for a shot from the right circle that went in off the far post.

Hughes then put New Jersey in front 4-3 at 14:51 on a partial breakaway, skating past Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic before shooting over the glove of Spencer Knight. Hughes added an empty-net goal at 19:29 for the 5-3 final.

It was Hughes’ fifth four-point game in the NHL and his second this season. He had three goals and an assist in a 6-3 win against the New York Rangers on March 7.

“The whole second period we dominated. Third period, it’s coming,” Hughes said. “So, we just had to stick with our game. Push, but not give anything crazy up. We did a good job of that tonight.”

Connor Brown and Simon Nemec also scored, and Jake Allen made 28 saves for the Devils (38-33-2), who were coming off a 5-2 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday but are 3-1-0 in their past four games and 6-2-0 in their past eight.

New Jersey is 10 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Frank Nazar scored twice for his first multigoal NHL game, and Anton Frondell had two assists for his first multipoint NHL game for the Blackhawks (27-34-13), who have lost three in a row. Knight made 35 saves.

“We played hard,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “We weren’t perfect, obviously, but we played hard. So, from an attitude and an approach, I thought it was much better.”

Ilya Mikheyev put Chicago ahead 1-0 at 4:19 of the first period. Allen went behind the net to retrieve a dump-in, but he lost track of the puck in his skates, which allowed Frondell to steal it and quickly pass out front to Mikheyev for a shot into an open net.

“I’ve had a lot of bad goals,” Allen said. “That’s a terrible bounce, just a tough bounce off the glass. If the puck doesn’t hit the glass it’s a normal breakout. So, that’s the way you have to look at it. ... You can’t let it eat at you.”

Brown tied it 1-1 on a power play at 11:15 by deflecting a shot-pass from Luke Hughes in the slot.

Nazar put the Blackhawks back in front 2-1 at 13:11 of the first. He buried a one-timer near the right post off a cross-crease backhand pass from Ryan Donato, who was near the left post.

“Our bread and butter is we want to get it low and play a very simple game and then let our offense take over,” Donato said. “That’s what we did for a lot of the game in spurts. We’ve got to figure out a way to continue to grow and mature.”

Nemec tied 2-2 at 15:48 of the second period, scoring through traffic from the top of the right circle after Dawson Mercer won a battle for the puck along the goal line.

New Jersey outshot Chicago 16-5 in the second.

“Showing once again that even when things are tired and even when things are tough that you have more to give,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The guys dug in and found it.”

Nazar gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead during a 5-on-3 power play at 10:51 of the third period. He finished a no-look, cross-slot pass from Connor Bedard with a one-timer from the left circle.

“Anytime you lose you can learn from it,” Nazar said. “We’re going to go back, do some video, figure out how to be better and go from there.”

NOTES: Jack Hughes is tied for third in the NHL with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 16 games since returning from winning the gold medal with Team USA at the Winter Olympics. Only Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning (30) and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (28) have more in that span. ... Frondell, who was selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, has four assists in his first four games. ... Devils captain Nico Hischier played in his 600th NHL game. He had two assists, a plus-2 rating and went 18-for-28 on face-offs. ... Bedard has an NHL career-high 68 points (30 goals, 38 assists) in 61 games this season. He had 67 points in 82 games last season.