Corey Crawford was the Blackhawks’ starting goalie Sunday.
Anton Forsberg relieved him to start the third period after Crawford allowed six goals in regulation for just the second time in his career.
By the time the Blackhawks’ 7-5 loss to the Devils mercifully ended, the net was unmanned as the home team tried to play catchup after blowing what once was a three-goal lead.
“Chelsea Dagger” played on a loop during the first period at the United Center, when the Blackhawks scored four times — and clanged pucks off the post twice more.
But keeping the puck out of their own net proved problematic during the second period, when the Devils put a dagger into the Hawks’ 4-2 first-period lead by scoring four of their own to go up 6-5 after two.
The goals came so furiously that Crawford couldn’t recall what went wrong — or why it did.
Not that he wants to remember.
“Just a struggle right from the start,” Crawford said after allowing six goals on just 25 shots. “Those ones come every once in a while during the year. Just have to forget about it and keep playing.
“It’s tough, too. We played so well and scored a lot and (I) just couldn’t find a way to make a save.”
Crawford’s backside was introduced to the bench in favor of Forsberg at the start of the third period.
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Two minutes, 21 seconds into Forsberg’s relief appearance, the Devils’ Miles Wood made good on his third goal of the game. His first career hat trick gave the visitors a 7-5 lead on their eighth shot of the period.
Not quite what Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville had in mind with his team coming off a 4-3 overtime victory at Carolina the night before.
“We have to be ready because this team is all work and they come ready to play,” Quenneville said before Sunday’s game. “You gotta be ready to start. That’s always been a pretty good trait of ours, starting on time.”
The Hawks did. But the Devils did the finishing.
After the Hawks took a 4-1 lead, thanks to goals from Artem Anisimov, Alex DeBrincat, Jan Rutta and Tanner Kero, the Devils scored five goals in a row to erase that deficit and create one for the home team in the process.
Taylor Hall crashed the party with a go-ahead goal that slid between Crawford’s legs with 7 minutes, 45 seconds left in the second before Hall crashed into the Hawks goalie.
“I don’t know if we thought it was going to be easy the rest of the night or what,” said Patrick Kane, who scored a power-play goal with 2.7 seconds left in the second to make it 6-5, ending his streak of seven games without a goal. “That’s a tough lead to give up.”
Anisimov began to quench the Blackhawks’ thirst for offense 41 seconds into the first, when he deflected Rutta’s shot from 63 feet away past Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid.
Rutta originally was credited with the score. Until he wasn’t.
Just as the correction was being announced, Rutta coaxed in a power-play score from the right point with 3:21 left in the period to put the Hawks ahead 3-1.
Twenty-two seconds later, Kero notched his first goal this season to make it 4-1.
“We had a perfect first period,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “The variance from our first to second (went from) being exactly how you want to play to exactly how you can’t play.”
Before scoring four during an overtime victory Sunday against the Hurricanes, the Hawks had watched seven games come and go without reaching that total.
But on Sunday, not even five were enough.
Twitter @ChiTribSkrbina
Paul Skrbina’s three stars
Miles Wood, Devils: Three goals (first career hat trick), assist helped do in Hawks.
Nico Hischier, Devils: Goal, two assists.
Jan Rutta, Blackhawks: Goal, two assists.
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