Devils’ Blackwood blanks Canucks for 2nd straight shutout

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Rookie goalie Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 shots to earn his second straight shutout and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 on Monday.

Blackwood is 3-1 since joining the Devils on Dec. 18th. He blanked the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 on Saturday, becoming the first rookie goalie in franchise history to post back-to-back shutouts

Brian Boyle, Miles Wood, Sami Vatanen and Pavel Zacha scored for the Devils. It was Zacha's second goal in as many games.

Anders Nilsson stopped 19 shots for Vancouver.

The Devils have won three straight for the first time since their first three games of the sesson.

The game featured two of the top five players taken in the 2017 draft.

New Jersey's Nico Hischier went first overall and has 26 points in his second season in the league. Hischier, who turns 20 on Friday, had 52 points a year ago.

Vancouver's Elias Pettersson was the fifth selection of the draft and has 39 points in his first NHL season.

Vatanen's power-play goal early in the third period made it 3-0 Devils.

Boyle gave the Devils a 1-0 lead when he scored off a rebound at 12:03 of the first period. He was followed by Wood's power-play goal later in the period for a 2-0 cushion.

NOTES: Devils F Taylor Hall missed his third game with a lower-body injury. He leads the team with 37 points. Hall was replaced at LW by Jesper Bratt on New Jersey's top line. ... Vancouver is on its second six-game road trip of the season after getting wins in Edmonton and Calgary. ... Vancouver F Brock Boeser skated in his 100th NHL game. ... New Jersey was without G Cory Schneider (lower body) and F Marcus Johansson (upper body). Devils G Mackenzie Blackwood was the NHL's third star of the week on Monday after going 2-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and .975 save percentage in two games.

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UP NEXT:

Canucks: At Ottawa on Wednesday

Devils: At Dallas on Wednesday

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