Kane extends point streak to 16 in Blackhawks win against Devils

CHICAGO --Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for the Chicago Blackhawks to extend his point streak to 16 games and his assist streak to 15 games in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at United Center on Thursday.

Kane's point streak (12 goals, 23 assists) is the longest active in the NHL. He passed Stan Mikita's 14-game assist streak (Nov. 26-Dec. 25, 1967) for the longest in Blackhawks history.
"It's nice," Kane said. "I've had some great teammates over the years, and as far as the record goes tonight, a lot of guys burying pucks when I'm passing to them. Pretty cool feeling."
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Drake Caggiula, Jonathan Toews and Artem Anisimov scored, and Cam Ward made 41 saves for Chicago (24-25-9), which is 8-1-0 in its past nine games.
Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist to reach 301 NHL points.
"For us, it's playing a consistent hockey game for 60 minutes, regardless of the score or the chances," Saad said. "So for us to fall behind and kind of have a slow start and bounce back, it shows a lot of character in our group."
Damon Severson and Travis Zajac scored, and Cory Schneider made 31 saves for New Jersey (21-28-8), which is 1-4-1 in its past six games and 3-8-1 in its past 12.
Schneider lost his 21st straight regular-season game. He is 0-7-2 in 12 games this season, and 0-17-4 since his last win Dec. 27, 2017.
"I felt really good again," Schneider said. "But again, nothing to show for it in terms of results. Got away from me and us for a couple minutes' stretch there in the third."

Severson gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 7:14 of the first period, scoring glove side from the right circle off a pass from Brett Seney.
Zajac made it 2-0 at 16:42, scoring stick side from the slot on a power play.
Kane cut it to 2-1 at 18:17, scoring glove side from the high slot.
Caggiula tied it 2-2 20 seconds into the second period, scoring glove side from the right circle off a pass from Kane.
"For us, they score the one kind of late in the first, then it's 2-1 and it's fine," Devils defenseman Andy Greene said. "We're in a great building to play in, a fun building to play in against a tough team we usually play pretty well against.
"It was tough to come out of that first shift in the second period and give one up there, give them the momentum. We always say, last two minutes of a period and first two minutes of a period, you don't want to give teams opportunities. We did that at the end of the first and beginning of the second."

Toews made it 3-2 at 13:12 off a slap shot from the right circle off a pass from Slater Koekkoek, who received the puck from Kane off the boards.
Anisimov extended the lead to 4-2 at 13:36 of the third period, backhanding in an Erik Gustafsson rebound.
Saad scored shorthanded at 15:15 for the 5-2 final.

They said it

"Well, he's a difficult player to play against. The goal he had, it was a 6-on-5, he came on. He's a guy who gets looks throughout the game, but you have to be aware of them. I thought we made him work for his chances when he got them tonight. He's one of the best players in the League, so you gotta figure he'll have some opportunities to get some looks." -- Devils coach John Hynes on Patrick Kane

"We know how we need to play, and we realize that that first period is not the way we normally play, and we came out firing in the second period and capitalized early and changed the momentum of the game." -- Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward

Need to know

Kane's 26-game point streak (40 points; 16 goals, 24 assists) from Oct. 17-Dec. 13, 2015 is the longest in Blackhawks history. … Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz played his 1,000th NHL game. He is the fifth undrafted player since 1963-64, when the NHL Draft was introduced, to win the Stanley Cup four times and play 1,000 NHL games. (Serge Savard, 8; Charlie Huddy, 5; Jimmy Roberts, 5; Wayne Gretzky, 4). … Toews has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in his past nine games. Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat had his nine-game point streak end. … Devils forward Marcus Johansson assisted on Zajac's goal. He has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past three games.

What's next

Devils:At the Minnesota Wild on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-O, NHL.TV)