NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard departed after he was leveled in the first period of a 4-2 loss to Simon Nemec and the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.
Bedard was hit by Devils defenseman Brendan Smith after the 18-year-old center carried the puck into Chicago’s offensive zone. Bedard then skated to the bench holding his face as Nick Foligno, Brett Seney and several teammates ignited a skirmish behind the Devils net.
Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson had no update on Bedard after the loss. He said he will be evaluated on Saturday when the team is back in Chicago.
After the All-Star departed, there was a series of skirmishes before New Jersey rallied for its fifth win in six games.
Nemec and Alexander Holtz each had a goal and an assist as the Devils improved to 13-5-1 in their last 19 games. Michael McLeod snapped a tie in the third period, and Tyler Toffoli added an empty-netter for his 16th goal of the season.
Injury-riddled Chicago lost its fifth consecutive game. The last-place Blackhawks also dropped their 14th straight road game.
Jason Dickinson and Boris Katchouk scored for Chicago, and Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves.
JETS 3, DUCKS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Nate Schmidt and Cole Perfetti scored in the third period, and the Jets extended their point streak to 11 games.
Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg, and Laurent Brossoit made 37 saves. Vladislav Namestnikov had two assists.
The Jets earned their fifth consecutive win and improved to 9-0-2 in their last 11 games overall.
Mason McTavish scored in the first period for Anaheim, and John Gibson made 24 stops. The Ducks dropped to 4-18-1 in their last 23 games.
HURRICANES 6, CAPITALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brent Burns scored twice, helping Carolina to its fifth straight win.
Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and two assists for his sixth consecutive multipoint game.
Seth Jarvis scored the tying goal early in the third to complete the comeback from down 2-0, and Svechnikov put the Hurricanes ahead on the power play with 7:19 left. Svechnikov also set up Burns for his second of the night less than 90 seconds later.
Sebastian Aho had three assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves for his 11th win of the season for the Hurricanes, who have not lost since the Christmas break.
Dylan Strome and Nic Dowd scored for Washington, which has lost two in a row and six of seven.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
