Travis Zajac capped New Jersey's dominant second period with a short-handed goal, and the Devils headed into their holiday break with a 7-1 victory over the Blackhawks.

Subban, Damon Severson, and John Hayden also scored in the second as New Jersey won for just the third time in 12 games. Jack Hughes picked up his fifth goal in the first, and Blake Coleman and Pavel Zacha scored in the third in this matchup of last-place teams.

Nikita Gusev had three assists and Mackenzie Blackwood made 32 saves, helping New Jersey bounce back from consecutive losses to Washington and Columbus by a combined score of 11-4.

It was the highest-scoring game of the season for the Devils and the worst loss of the year for the Blackhawks.

Chicago had won three of four, including consecutive victories at Winnipeg and Colorado. Zack Smith scored in the first period and Corey Crawford made 16 saves on 20 shots before he was pulled in the second.

Subban put New Jersey ahead to stay when he drove a slap shot from the top of the slot past a screened Crawford 51 seconds into the second.

The Devils were just getting started.

Severson drove to the net and stuffed the puck between Crawford's legs at 7:22. Hayden chased Crawford at 10:40, and Zajac made it 5-1 when he flipped a rebound past Robin Lehner with 2:38 left in the period.