Jacob Markstrom, Devils shut out Canucks

Nico Hischier scored his 10th goal and had two assists and Jacob Markstrom posted his 21st career shutout as the New Jersey Devils cruised to a 6-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.

It was the 18th three-point play of Hischier's career. Dawson Mercer had a shorthanded goal and an assist, Jack Hughes added a goal and an assist and Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat and Tomas Tatar also scored for New Jersey, improving its lead in the Metropolitan Division to three points over New York Ranger.

Markstrom stopped 20 shots in the Devils' second straight win. Arturs Silovs finished the game with 16 saves for Vancouver, which lost its second straight game.

New Jersey needed just 53 seconds to take a 1-0 lead when Hischier received a cross-ice pass from Mercer during a 2-on-1 break. Hischier then fired a wrist shot from the left circle into the top near corner, scoring his seventh goal in the last six games.

The Devils, who allowed just one shot on goal while parrying a four-minute double minor by Jesper Bratt for Quinn Hughes' high stick, extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:35 of the second period of Mercer's third career shorthanded goal, when he shot a rebound from a Hischier shot under the crossbar to score his third goal.

Less than two minutes later, Meier made it 3-0 with his fifth goal, firing a wrist shot from the left circle through the legs of Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers into the top far corner.

Towards the end of the period, Palat extended the lead to 4-0 when he converted a rebound into the left post. The score was initially not scored by the referees, and the game lasted about 20 seconds before the Toronto Situation Room awarded the goal after a replay.

Hughes made it 5-0 with a power play goal midway through the third period, hitting five holes off a pass from Stefan Noesen. Tatar closed the scoring with 5:54 left when he buried a rebound inside the right post for his second goal.

–Field level media