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Two Wins Tucked Away: Mercer Powers Devils to Victory Ahead of Home Opener

  Photo: Andrew MacLean The New Jersey Devils survived a chaotic, late-game flurry in Columbus to secure their second straight victory on Monday night, defeating the Blue Jackets 3-2 to cap off their opening road trip. The star of the dramatic finish was forward Dawson Mercer, who netted a pair of goals—including the decisive empty-net marker—that momentarily gave the Devils a two-goal cushion before the Blue Jackets scored with 20 seconds left to keep the tension high until the final horn. Having collected four points out of a possible six on the road, New Jersey now turns its focus to the familiar roar of the Prudential Center crowd. The team finally heads home to Newark, where they will open their home slate on Thursday night with a pivotal early-season clash against the formidable Florida Panthers. New Jersey Devils Lineup: Palat - Hughes - Bratt Meier - Hischier - Mercer Gritsyuk - Glass - Brown Cotter - Glendening - Halonen Hughes - Pesce Siegenthaler - Hamilton Dillon - Neme...

Blackhawks attack late and fall to the Rangers in Overtime, 2/9/24

 




*Sorry for the lack of photos! Hoping to get permission eventually.*


   The Rangers had a 4-3 victory in Chicago at the United Center on Friday, February 9th. The Blackhawks came close to a comeback late in the third period but ended up adding another unfortunate loss to their losing streak.


Rangers lineup against the Blackhawks:

Kreider - Zibanejad - Wheeler

Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere

Cuylle - Brodzinski - Kakko

Vesey - Goodrow - Pitlick


Lindgren - Fox

Miller - Trouba

Gustafsson - Schneider


Shesterkin

Quick


Blackhawks lineup against the Rangers:

Foligno - Kurashev - Raddysh

Blackwell - Dickinson - Anderson

Reichel - Entwistle - Johnson

Katchouk - Pitlick - Donato


Vlasic - Jones

Korchinski - Megna

Tinordi - Phillips


Mrazek

Soderblom


   Early into the first period, Alex Vlasic scored his second goal of the season. After the puck had deflected off Will Cuylle's stick, Vlasic grabbed up the puck near the top left circle and scored with a wrist shot. Alexis Lafreniere tied it up 1-1 not long after Vlasic's goal. Lafreniere took a pass in the right circle K'Andre Miller and scored a one-timer. Giving the Rangers the 2-1 lead, Chris Kreider struck his 24th goal of the season. Kreider tipped in a pass from Adam Fox while he was standing off the crease.


   Jonny Brodzinski continued the Rangers' lead, pushing it to 3-1, in the middle frame. Brodzinski tapped in a rebound of Kaapo Kakko's shot. New York held their 3-1 lead throughout the rest of the second period.


   Nick Foligno cut it 3-2 late into the third period. Foligno scored on the rebound of Philipp Kurashev's shot, from in front of the net. Jason Dickinson tied it 3-3 with 1:02 remaining in the third period. Dickinson scored a tip-in of a shot from Seth Jones at the right point. The Rangers and Blackhawks head into overtime, 3-3.


   Mika Zibanejad scored on a wrist shot at the right circle on a pass by Chris Kreider... wrapping it up and getting the Rangers the 4-3 final.




Notes:

- The Rangers won their fourth game straight... Two of the four wins ended in overtime

- Adam Fox became the sixth player in Rangers history to record 30 assists in each of his first five seasons with the franchise.

- Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist

- Adam Fox recorded two assists

- Mika Zibanejad recorded his eighth overtime goal with the New York Rangers. He surpassed Cecil Dillon, Butch Keeling, and Brian Leetch for the most in franchise history.

- Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves for New York

- The Chicago Blackhawks have a 6-game losing streak

- Petr Mrazek made 31 saves for Chicago




Alex Vlasic on the Blackhawks' 4-3 loss, battling back and working on his shot: "I think we battled back pretty well there. They're obviously one of the better teams in the league, and to get that second and third goal, it's good for us. We've been struggling to even put up one sometimes... Step in the right direction for sure, just got to execute there - I've been trying to work on my shot quite a bit this year. I feel like I've got quite a few chances that I haven't been able to capitalize on. That's an area in the second half of the year that I'm trying to get a little bit better at and contribute."



Mika Zibanejad on the Rangers' 4-3 win and the Blackhawks: "I thought we did an okay job in the first period - They work hard, I give them credit. They're fast and they work hard. I think there's execution and maybe slow decision-making at times that put us in trouble. It's not one of our greatest performances but at the end of the day, it's easier to look at it and demand more from ourselves when we get the two points."






Postgame: Peter Laviolette


Postgame: Philipp Kurashev

Postgame: Luke Richardson

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