Subban ends 23-game goal drought in Devils win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- P.K. Subban ended his 23-game goal drought for the New Jersey Devils in a 7-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Monday.

Subban gave the Devils a 2-1 lead with a slap shot from the point 51 seconds into the second period for his first goal since Nov. 2. He has three goals and four assists in 36 games this season.
"Obviously it ended up being the game-winner, and I want meaningful points too," Subban said. "I guess you could say that goal is more special because it helped us for the win."
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Fourteen players had at least one point for New Jersey (12-19-5), which scored seven unanswered goals to avoid a third straight loss entering the Christmas break. John Hayden scored his first goal of the season in his first game against his former team to give the Devils a 4-1 lead; he was acquired from the Blackhawks for center John Quenneville on June 22.

Damon Severson had a goal and two assists, and Nikita Gusev had three assists for the Devils. Mackenzie Blackwood made 32 saves for his third win in four games.
"Our goalie was huge as well, along with the penalty kill, and the game turned as we went on," Severson said of Blackwood and the Devils penalty kill, which went 7-for-7. "That was a huge win right before the break."
Zack Smith scored for Chicago (15-17-6), which was denied a third straight win entering the Christmas break. Corey Crawford allowed four goals on 20 shots in 30:40 before he was pulled for Robin Lehner, who made 21 saves in relief.
"Just an embarrassment," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "I don't know if that's an emotion, but that's what we're all feeling and what we should be feeling at this moment."
Smith gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead on a wraparound at 3:21 of the first period.
Jack Hughes ended his 18-game goal drought at 14:56 of the first when he lifted a far-side shot over Crawford's blocker to tie it 1-1.
Severson scored his first goal in 11 games when he skated around Toews at the left face-off circle and put a shot between Crawford's legs for a 3-1 lead at 7:22 of the second.
"I thought I had it, but I mean [it] just seemed like nothing was going right," said Crawford, who has lost his past four starts.
Hayden snapped a wrist shot from the left circle at 10:40 of the second to make it 5-1.
New Jersey outshot Chicago 23-8 in the second period.
Blake Coleman scored 18 seconds into the third to make it 6-1, and Pavel Zacha scored at 18:21 for the 7-1 final.
"Yeah, it's a missed opportunity," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We should be embarrassed. If we're going to make progress, you've got to give yourself a chance to make progress. I don't think we did that tonight."
Brothers Jesper Boqvist and Adam Boqvist played their first NHL game against each other, but each left in the first period with injuries. Jesper Boqvist, a Devils forward, left after 1:42 and was held out for precautionary reasons, Devils interim coach Alain Nasreddine said; Boqvist, a Blackhawks defenseman, exited after 2:42, with a "minor" right shoulder injury, Colliton said.

They said it

"We wanted to have 40 shots this game, we had [44]. We had everybody involved, and that's what we want. Everybody's confident now, and that's great going into the break. We want that to continue coming out of it." -- Devils defenseman P.K. Subban
"Enough's enough. We talked about being [ticked] off, and we can't keep letting it slide and talk about the Xs and Os like it's just another game. I think we showed a great example in these last few games on the road of how we want to play for each other, and that's got to be the standard, and again we just completely got away from it tonight. It can take one or two guys out there that don't do their job, and then that makes it harder on the other three. When you've got all five guys that aren't really thinking on the same page, everyone's job gets tougher. That was the situation tonight, so it's hard." -- Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews

Need to know

The Blackhawks and Devils combined for 34 penalty minutes in the first period. … Coleman and Severson each had a plus-4 rating; Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy was minus-4. … Gusev has six assists in his past four games. … Quenneville played 8:20 and had five hits in his Blackhawks debut after being recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

What's next

Devils: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, MSG+, SNO, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the New York Islanders on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)