Newark, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) - Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane both scored in the shootout to send the Chicago Blackhawks to a seventh straight victory with a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Toews, Chicago's first shooter, raced up the slot, dragged the puck to his backhand and slid the puck past the pad of Keith Kinkaid for the first marker and after Jaromir Jagr was stopped, Kane stickhandled his way up the slot and wristed the deciding tally past the New Jersey netminder.
"We knew it was going to be that type of game against this team," Toews said. "I think we always can find ways to win games."
Duncan Keith tied the game with 3:13 remaining in the third period, and Bryan Bickell also lit the lamp for Chicago, which received 22 saves from Scott Darling.
Jordin Tootoo and Stephen Gionta both scored for the Devils, who were coming off a 2-1 win over Carolina on Monday.
Kinkaid was tremendous in his first NHL start, turning aside 37 shots in regulation and the overtime session.
"I just wanted to give the team a chance to win and prove my worth," said Kinkaid. "I'm just relieved to get that first start and hopefully there's a few more."
Toews slipped a pass to Marian Hossa down low. Kinkaid stopped Hossa's shot, but the rebound trickled over to Keith, who buried the puck into an open net for a tied game with 3:13 remaining.
Sustained Chicago pressure and a stickless Devils defender led to a Chicago man advantage as Jagr took a hooking penalty with 2:06 remaining in overtime. The Blackhawks, however, were unable to solve Kinkaid and the game went to a shootout.
Tootoo wristed a shot under the arm of Darling from the right circle to open the scoring with 4:49 remaining in the first period.
Kinkaid robbed Kane's rising wrister from the right circle with a slick glove save early in the second to preserve New Jersey's lead.
The Blackhawks lit the lamp after Kinkaid was unable to replicate his left- handed larceny on Bickell's short-side wrister with 9:05 left in the middle stanza.
Jacob Josefson was assessed a double-minor high-sticking penalty shortly after the equalizer, but Kinkaid and the New Jersey penalty kill stood tall, turning aside chance after chance during a Chicago barrage.
After Kinkaid stoned Patrick Sharp on a breakaway, Damon Severson's blast from the right side hopped off a gathering in front of the net. Gionta was there to whack the puck out of the air and past Darling for a 2-1 Devils lead 2:31 into the final stanza.
Martin Havlat broke through on a breakaway up the left side and had a chance to give the Devils some breathing room, but his backhander rang off the far pipe with 9:21 to play.
Game Notes
Sharp returned to the Chicago lineup after missing the last 14 games with a knee injury ... The Blackhawks have won three straight games against the Devils ... Prior to the game, New Jersey placed forward Patrik Elias (groin) on injured reserve and recalled forward Reid Boucher from Albany of the American Hockey League ... Forward Mike Cammalleri (pulled posterior muscle and Dainius Zubrus (leg laceration) were also absent from the Devils lineup ... The two teams will conclude the season series in Chicago on Feb. 13.
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