Vanecek, Devils Blank Hawks for NHL-Best 21st Win | GAME STORY

Devils goaltender Vitek Vanecek faced 24 shots and recorded 24 saves to record his second shutout of the season with a 3-0 blanking of the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
The Devils, who now have a league-leading 21 wins, received goals from Dougie Hamilton, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt.
Hamilton's goal, scored 11:27 of the first period, held up as the game-winner.
"Guys played really good, the defensemen for us played really good," Vanececk said. "I was just trying to help them all the time. It is nice to get a shutout but the win is always bigger."
The Devils are 18-1-1 in their last 20 games.

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The Devils host the NY Islanders Friday night with the official home unveiling of their Reverse Retro jerseys.
Here are some observations from the game:
- The hardest aspect of covering a player like Jack Hughes is finding enough adjectives to describe his remarkable play. He's a dynamic, game-changing type of player who can single-handedly take over a game.

Want proof? Just look at his play in the first period to setup Hamilton for the game's opening goal.

Hughes carried the puck into the Blackhawks zone and found himself enveloped by four players. Somehow, he managed to Houdini out of the entrapment and in the lower corner. From there, he then, somehow, managed to thread a pass through two skaters and a perfectly placed puck for Hamilton to one-time a shot with full force.

"It's a lot of fun to watch him play," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "When he gets the puck there are a lot of great things that happen. He's a tough guy to track down. You saw a lot of that in the offensive zone. He had the puck, one guy tried, the next guy tried. He made a great play to Dougie on the first goal. Real good night for Jack and where he's got his game at."

Hughes had some more sorcery in the second period when he again threaded a pass through a couple of bodies to Bratt on the opposite side of the ice for a power-play goal.

And check out the highlight reel of him behind the Blackhawks net skating circles and pivots around a hapless defender. It's truly (insert your own adjective).

"I don't think you can use only one word. He really excels all the time," Bratt said. "He really comes up in big moments when we need him."

- With the two helpers against the Blackhawks, Hughes extended his current scoring streak to six games for 10 points (6g-4a). - The Devils' system requires the defensemen to play aggressive, whether it's jumping up on the rush or pinching in the offensive zone. Hamilton showed exactly how that's done. On the opening shift of the game, Hamilton had a scoring chance in the in circle and ended up behind the net.

Hamilton scored the game's opening goal (his seventh of the season) on that beautiful setup play by Hughes with a heavy one-timer into the top corner. He also finished the first period with a game-high (tied) four shots. He finished the game with a goal and two assists to tie a career high with three points (last accomplished Dec. 17, 2019) and seven shots.

Hamilton was active and a factor.

"Dougie had a really good night," Ruff said. "He sensed when he could get in there offensively. Within a shift and a half he had two or three chances. He scored on one and could have had a couple more. He made it really tough on Chicago with their coverage."

- Hischier's persistence paid off. In the second period he was stopped by goaltender Arvid Soderblom on a partial breakaway as well as on a wild split pad save. However, seconds following the pad save he buried a one-timer from above the circle. Third time's a charm.

The Devils are now 18-0-1 when Hischier records a point.

- The Devils had been talking about having better starts in games recently. It's something that has plagued the team at times all year, but particularly the last three contests. New Jersey found itself trailing 2-0 to the NY Rangers and Nashville Predators and only managed a season-low four shots in 20 minutes against Philadelphia. - The media has asked the Devils what they can do to play better in the first period. Captain Nico Hischier channeled his inner Nike and responded: "We just have to do it."

Well, against the Blackhawks, the Devils just did it.

New Jersey had a 1-0 advantage after the first period and generated a lot of offensive zone pressure and scoring chances. The Devils had some jump from the opening puck drop and carried that through the entire period.

Maybe now, we in the media can stop asking the Devils how to have better starts.

- The Devils continue to dominate the second period of games. They had a 2-0 lead in goals against the Blackhawks. They lead the NHL in second period goals with 40 (2nd, Los Angeles Kings, 37) and goal differential at +19 (2nd, Toronto, +14).