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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...
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Tyler Bertuzzi Hat Trick, Maple Leafs Seventh Straight Win vs. Colorado Avalanche, 2/24/24

 




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


   Tyler Bertuzzi scored a hat trick on his birthday, and Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, February 24th at the Ball Arena. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their seventh straight game and the Avalanche has lost two games straight.


Maple Leafs lineup against the Avalanche:

Knies - Matthews - Marner

Bertuzzi - Domi - Nylander

McMann - Tavares - Robertson

Holmberg - Kampf - Reaves


Brodie - Liljegren

Rielly - Lagesson

Benoit - McCabe


Samsonov

Jones


Avalanche lineup against the Maple Leafs:

Drouin - MacKinnon - Rantanen

Parise - Johanson - Lehkonen

Wood - Colton - O'Connor

Cogliano - Wagner - Kiviranta


Toews - Makar

Girard - Manson

Byram - Johnson


Georgiev

Annunen


   Artturi Lehkonen began the scoring at 17:44 of the first period when he redirected a slap pass from Nathan MacKinnon at the edge of the crease on the power play. At 8:53 with his fifth goal of the season, Andrew Cogliano scored off a pass from MacKinnon during a 2-on-1 after MacKinnon started the rush when he skated down the right boards past Morgan Rielly, and Cogliano scored glove side to make it a 2-0 game. Tyler Bertuzzi gets Toronto on the board, cutting it at 2-1 on the power play. Bertuzzi had finished a backdoor pass from Mitch Marner at the right post.


   At 5:15 of the second period, Tyler Bertuzzi tied the game at 2-2 with his second of the night and his ninth of the season. On a 3-on-2 rush, he clobbered in a rebound of William Nylander's shot in the crease. Mitch Marner put the Maple Leafs on top 3-2 at 3:12 of the middle frame from just inside the blue line with a wrister.


   Mikko Rantanen tied it at 3-3 early into the final frame at 15:19. He shot from the blue line with a wrist shot through traffic, getting his 30th goal of the season. At 2:51 in the third, Tyler Bertuzzi completed his hat trick on the power play for the 4-3 final.




Tyler Bertuzzi on his hat trick, playing on the power play, and confidence level: "That felt good. That was a great road trip for us, collecting eight points, and being able to go home on that note is awesome," - "I feel good out there. Just trying to find little holes here and there, and obviously, you saw tonight, they'll find you. You just got to find the openings. Even before tonight, I was feeling good. I thought I was making good plays and just playing decent hockey."


Mitch Marner on the team's 4-3 victory in Colorado: "Well, we didn't get discouraged. I think obviously the third period, first off, they're a hell of a third-period team and we knew it. They came out guns blazing but I thought we, at the same time, did a good job of defending, staying poised, and obviously when we needed to, our power play came through."




Notes:

- Tyler Bertuzzi recorded his third career hat trick... This was Bertuzzi's first multi-goal game since the 14th of October, 2021, when he played for the Detroit Red Wings. He's also the first Maple Leafs player to score a hat trick on his birthday.

  Bertuzzi's first goal of the night was his 100th NHL goal.

- Max Domi hit 400 NHL points, and William Nylander got to 300 NHL assists... He recorded three assists in this game.

- Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist... the goal was his 30th of the season, the fifth time in the NHL he's reached that mark.

- Cale Makar recorded the secondary assist on Atturi Lohkonen's goal, getting him his 307th NHL point to tie Tyson Barrie for the most by a defenseman in Colorado Avalanche history.

- Artturi Lehkonen has played 500 NHL games

- Nathan MacKinnon recorded three assists, extending his season-opening home point streak to 28 games... tied for the sixth-longest at any point in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky owns the record at 40 games (1988-89).

  MacKinnon has recorded his second career 60-assist season, also 69 in the 2022-23 season. The only other players in Avalanche history to have as many campaigns are Peter Forsberg (5x) and Joe Sakic (3x).

- Ilya Samsonov made 25 saves for Toronto and Alexander Georgiev made 26 saves for Colorado.


 




Postgame: Ilya Samsonov

Postgame: Morgan Rielly

Postgame: Sheldon Keefe


Postgame: Logan O'Connor

Postgame: Jared Bednar

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