From L to W in 19 Seconds | GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - In 19 seconds, the Devils turned a deficit into a victory with a 5-3 triumph against Chicago at Prudential Center on Sunday night.

Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes scored third period goals in a 19-second span that flipped a 3-2 Chicago lead into a 4-3 Devils lead. Hughes added an empty-netter with 30.5 seconds left to cap a two-goal, four-point night.

"Obviously, a 5-on-3, it's hard to shut that down," Hughes said. "We just had to come back and try to get back in the game and we did a good job of that tonight."

Chicago took a 3-2 lead with a 5-on-3 tally halfway through the third period. Less than four minutes later, the Devils would answer.  

Hamilton evened the score in the third, starting the transition and finishing with the goal. He pushed the puck ahead to Timo Meier in the neutral zone before getting it back from Jack Hughes down the far side. He netted the shot with a high and far side.

Hughes used his speed to get around Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic to get 1-on-1 with goalie Spencer Knight. Hughes, who had been stopped low glove earlier by Knight, went high glove for the eventual game-winner and capping a two-goal 19-second sequence.

“I’ve shot thousands of pucks on (goalie Spencer) Knight,” Hughes said. “Not that there was a mental thing there, but hard to know where to shoot on him when he’s made so many saves on me. Had plenty of looks tonight. The one goes high glove but Knight closed the door pretty good on me tonight.”

The Devils also had goals from Connor Brown and Simon Nemec.

Chicago had goals from Ilya Mikheyev and two from Frank Nazar.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Connor Brown picked up his 15^th goal of the season on the power play with a beautiful tip from the bumper. Luke Hughes took the shot from the blue line and Brown perfectly angled his blade so the puck went off and rose to just under the crossbar and into the net.

Brown now has 15 points (5g-10a) in his past 14 games.

• The Devils had a flurry of opportunities in the second period. They put 16 pucks on net and were relentless in the offensive zone, but for the most part weren’t getting rewarded for their effort. Then they got a lucky break. Dawson Mercer had the puck below the goal line and tried a centering pass to Timo Meier. The puck, however, was behind Meier. Fortunately it found the stick of Simon Nemec between the circles and he riffled a shot into the top of the net to tie the game at 2-2 in final five minutes of the middle frame. 

Jack Hughes: "Nemo’s goal at the end of the second, a pretty dominant second, so for Nemo to score there and give us a tie game going into the third is big.”

• Nemec scoring against the Blackhawks isn't new news. He picked up a hat trick (including the OT winner) earlier in the November in Chicago. He now has four goals in two games against Chicago this season. 

In four career games against the Hawks, Nemec has five goals and six points and a plus-6. 

• Devils captain Nico Hischier hit another in a long list of milestones with the team. He skated in his 600^th NHL game. Hischier was the first-overall pick in 2017.

Hischier: “I’m very grateful for that. Time goes fast. I’m definitely very grateful to hit that milestone and hopefully many more to come.”

• Speaking of milestones, forward Dawson Mercer tied the franchise record (Travis Zajac) for consecutive games played at 401. He skated in the opening game of the 2021-22 season and hasn’t taken a night off since.