Devils blank Canucks, stays perfect on road
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Goaltender Cory Schneider stopped 37 shots for his first shutout of the season and Jimmy Hayes scored the only goal the New Jersey Devils would need in a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
Drew Stafford scored into an empty net with 14 seconds left.
Taylor Hall had two assists for the Devils (9-2-0), who are off to their best start in 24 years. New Jersey is also (5-0-0) on the road and is the only NHL team with a perfect road record.
Hall has six points (two goals, four assists) in his last three games.
Schneider, who was traded to New Jersey from Vancouver in 2013, recorded the 24th shutout of his career. He also improved his record to (5-1-2) against his old team.
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 24 stops for the Canucks (6-4-2). Vancouver was 0-for-4 on the power play.
The first period was scoreless. Schneider was forced to make a couple early saves off shots from Daniel Sedin and Brandon Sutter.
The Devils collected the game's first goal at 10:09 of the second period. Markstrom gave up a big rebound when stopping a shot from Hall. Hayes took the puck off the far boards, spun around, and let loose a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that appeared to hit a sprawling Brock Boeser and float past the Canuck goalie.
An angry Markstrom slammed his stick on the ice afterward.
Just a few minutes earlier Daniel Sedin had come close to putting Vancouver on the scoreboard. He tipped a pass from brother Henrik Sedin that hit the post behind Schneider.
Schneider came up big again during a flurry late in the period. He first stopped a blast from Alex Burmistrov, then slid across the crease to get a toe on Sam Gagner's shot off the rebound. With 42 seconds left Schneider stopped Daniel Sedin with a right shoulder save.
NOTES: Rookie RW Brock Boeser returned to the Canucks' lineup after missing Monday's loss to Dallas with a foot injury. ... D Chris Tanev was called for his first penalty in 13 games at 5:49 of the first period. ... D Alex Edler, out with a knee injury, took part in the game-day skate but is still 7-10 days away from returning. ... Canuck scratches were D Patrick Wiercioch, RW Anton Rodin, C Jayson Megna. ... LW Brian Boyle, who missed the first 10 games of the season with chronic myeloid leukemia, played his first game for the Devils on the fourth line. ... LW Taylor Hall has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his last eight games against Vancouver. ... New Jersey's previous best start to a season was 8-3-0 in 1993-94. ... Healthy scratches for the Devils were D Dalton Prout, RW Stefan Noesen and D Ben Lovejoy.