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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 Take Another Frustrating Loss 5-2 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets, 3/2/24

 




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


   The Blackhawks lost their sixth game straight 5-2 when they played against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, March 2 at the United Center. Cole Sillinger scored in his third straight game in the Blue Jackets victory, and Columbus broke their two-game losing streak. Connor Bedard recorded an assist when he assisted Philipp Kurashev's goal.


Blue Jackets lineup against the Blackhawks:

Gaudreau - Jenner - Roslovic

Chinakhov - Voronkov - Marchenko

Texier - Sillinger - Nylander

Danforth - Kuraly - Olivier


Werenski - Boqvist

Provorov - Severson

Bean - Gudbranson


Merzlikins

Tarasov


Blackhawks lineup against the Blue Jackets:

Donato - Bedard - Kurashev

Blackwell - Dickinson - Anderson

Foligno - Johnson - Raddysh

Katchouk - Beauvillier - Johnson


Vlasic - Jones

Korchinski - Megna

Phillips - Crevier


Soderblom

Mrazek


   Just 33 seconds into the first period, Alexandre Texier gave the Blue Jackets the lead. Texier grabbed the puck in the defensive zone after Seth Jones had lost it, and circled around the defenseman before scoring a wrist shot. His goal is the fastest goal in CBJ history to begin a game, surpassing Boone Jenner's 1:08 goal against the Dallas Stars on November 9th. At 5:55, Jenner made it a 2-0 game when he deflected a shot by Zach Werenski, from the high slot. Philipp Kurashev cut it 2-1 with his 10th goal of the season with 2:28 remaining in the first frame. Connor Bedard began the play when he knocked Alexander Nylander off the puck in the corner and gave Kurashev a touch pass in front of the net.


   Early into the second period at 16:51, Mathieu Olivier extended Columbus' lead to 3-1. He scored a backhanded goal after he had taken a pass in front of the net from Zach Werenski. Cole Sillinger pushed it to 4-1 with his third goal in the last three games and his 11th of the season, when he scored off a feed from Alexander Nylander from behind the net.


   Ryan Donato cut it to 4-2 with his seventh goal of the season at 13:42 of the final frame. Donato took the puck in front of the net to poke it in after Philipp Kurashev had carried it into the slot, having a backhand attempt that went off the end boards. Scoring an empty-netter for a 5-2 final, Johnny Gaudreau struck his ninth of the season to wrap it up at 2:25 of the third.




Philipp Kurashev on the loss and how much the losing is taking a mental toll on the team: "Definitely not the way we wanted to start. I think we were doing a better job in games before starting... It's tough when you go down early and then we couldn't come back," - "It's really frustrating... losing sucks, especially when you play bad and you kind of deserve to lose, so it's frustrating. ... I think we definitely played better at home, especially on the home stand. We used that to our advantage a little bit but at the end of the day, if you play well and lose, it doesn't matter. So you got to win and that's what we got to do."




Notes:

- Both Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Donato had a goal and an assist.

- Arvid Soderblom made 26 saves for Chicago, and Elvis Merzlikins made 26 saves for Columbus.

- Zach Werenski and Jack Roslovic both recorded two assists.

  Werenski recorded his 28th NHL career multi-assist game, passing Seth Jones for fifth-most in CBJ history. Cole Sillinger is the third player in team history to score 30 goals before his 21st birthday. Sillinger joins Rick Nash (58) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (47)...


 




Postgame: Ryan Donato

Postgame: Luke Richardson


Postgame Media

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