Luke Hughes' three assists guide Devils past Blackhawks

Dawson Mercer scored the game-winning goal on the power play midway through the second period and Luke Hughes earned three assists to lift the visiting New Jersey Devils to a 5-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

Nathan Bastian, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat and Stefan Noesen also scored for the Devils. New Jersey (38-28-7, 83 points) remained in third place in the Metropolitan Division and in control of the division's final guaranteed playoff spot.

Jesper Bratt added a pair of assists, and Mercer had another and Jacob Markstrom stopped 21 shots for the Devils, who won despite getting outshot 24-20. New Jersey had been winless in its previous three games (0-2-1).

Tyler Bertuzzi, Frank Nazar and Ilya Mikheyev scored for the Blackhawks. Artyom Levshunov had two assists, and Spencer Knight made 15 saves.

Chicago (21-42-9, 51 points), already eliminated from Western Conference postseason contention, lost for the eighth time in nine games (1-7-1). The Blackhawks have the second-fewest points in the NHL.

Bastian opened the scoring 6:23 into the game. Hughes weaved down the left wing and found Bastian open in front, as the winger beat Chicago goaltender Knight with a tap-in. Meier scored on the man advantage just 27 seconds later.

Bertuzzi got the Blackhawks on the board with a power-play goal at 9:06 of the first period. With the Devils unable to clear, Ryan Donato fed a cross-ice pass to Bertuzzi, who beat Markstrom on the back door.

New Jersey took a 3-1 lead 3:14 into the second period. With the Devils short-handed, Palat gathered a drop pass from Bratt and scored on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Mikheyev answered for the Blackhawks a little over two minutes later. Teuvo Teravainen backhanded a pass through traffic, and Mikheyev scored from the low left circle.

The Blackhawks appeared to score the equalizer moments later, but officials waved off a Donato tip-in goal, ruling his stick was too high when he redirected the puck.

The Devils restored a two-goal lead with Mercer's power-play goal at 11:01 of the second on a wrist shot from the left circle. It stood up as the game-winner after Nazar scored for Chicago with 2:50 left in the game. Noesen capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 13 seconds remaining.

New Jersey center Cody Glass missed the game due to an injury.

--Field Level Media