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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...

Connor Bedard Scores Two, Colin Blackwell Earns First Career Hat Trick 3/10/24

 




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


   The Blackhawks had a remarkable 7-4 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at the United Center on Sunday, March 10th. Connor Bedard had a three-point night, scoring two goals (19) and recording an assist (27) for 46 points this season. Colin Blackwell scored his first career hat trick when he struck the Coyotes' empty net. It was an exciting win for Chicago, and probably one of their biggest wins this season. This 7-4 victory marks the first time since March 14th, 2023 (against the Boston Bruins, a 6-3 win) that the Blackhawks scored six goals in a game.


Coyotes lineup against the Blackhawks:

Keller - Cooley - Guenther

Maccelli - Bjugstad - Crouse

Kerfoot - Hayton - Schmaltz

Carcone - McBain - O'Brien


Moser - Durzi

Valmaki - Kesselring

Soderstrom - Brown


Ingram


Blackhawks lineup against the Coyotes:

Foligno - Bedard - Kurashev

Blackwell - Dickinson - Anderson

Sanford - Johnson - Raddysh

Donato - Entwistle - Johnson


Vlasic - Jones

Korchinski - Megna

Tinordi - Zaitsev


Soderblom

Mrazek


   Clayton Keller gave Arizona the 1-0 lead at 13:51 of the first period when both teams were playing 4-on-4. Keller beat Arvid Soderblom with a wrister in the slot after cutting across the right circle. Keller's goal had been the only goal throughout the opening 20.


   Only 11 seconds into the middle frame, Clayton Keller struck his second goal of the night and his 25th of the season to make it a two-nothing game. He scored on the breakaway after receiving a lead pass from Nick Schmaltz. At 14:32, putting the Blackhawks on the board - Connor Bedard went for his 18th goal of the season to cut it 2-1. The puck banked off J.J. Moser's leg from behind the net... not long after Bedard's goal, Colin Blackwell tied it 2-2 after he put in on a rebound off Alex Vlasic's shot, which had been at the blue line. Scoring his second of the night for his 19th NHL career goal, Bedard gave Chicago the lead during a 5-on-3 power play. Bedard defeated Connor Ingram with a beautiful wrist shot after he took a pass in the right circle and cut into the slot. At 6:03 of the second, Dylan Guenther tied the game back up 3-3 when he put in a rebound in front... Tyler Johnson put the Blackhawks back in the lead, 4-3, on the power play off a cross-ice pass from Bedard for a one-timer with 2:10 remaining.


   Colin Blackwell scored his second of the night just 33 seconds into the third when he put in the rebound of Seth Jones' backhanded shot. Scoring the final goal for Arizona, Nick Schmaltz cut it to 5-4 after his original shot had been saved by Arvid Soderblom. He went for it again from the left circle with a snap shot for his 19th goal of the season. At 12:00, Ryan Donato made it a 6-4 game when he sent a wrist shot past Connor Ingram from the right circle. Hunting down his third of the night to complete the hat trick - Blackwell struck the empty net for his first career hat trick and the 7-4 final.




Colin Blackwell on when he saw his hat-trick goal get into the net: "Thank God... Against Calgary, I had one and I was just a little too antsy. For me, it's a cool gesture. It's come a long way, especially over the last 12 months or so here. So to be able to get a hat trick, it was pretty special."


Connor Bedard on scoring and almost recording his first NHL career hat trick: "I need a miracle to put one in, so that was nice. But it doesn't matter, obviously, how you get them. It's about getting them, so it was nice to see that one go in. I don't know how or who it went off of, but it was nice," - "It's kind of an obvious answer, but yes. You always want to score goals. You're not playing thinking about it but you always want to score... If I was any good, I'd put it in, but unfortunately, it slid off."




Notes:

- Seth Jones recorded four assists... Connor Bedard is the first 18-year-old in Blackhawks history with three career three-point games, Patrick Kane being the only other player with two for Chicago.

- The Chicago Blackhawks agreed to terms with Landon Slaggert on a two-year, entry-level contract that runs through the 2024-25 season.

- Arvid Soderblom saved a total of 32 saves for Chicago, and Connor Ingram made a total of 34 saves.

- Nick Schmaltz had a goal and recorded two assists... Clayton Keller's goal into the opening 11 seconds of the second period marked the Arizona Coyotes' fastest start in a period since November 11th, 2019 (Christian Fischer's being 10 seconds into the second period)






Postgame: Seth Jones

Postgame: Luke Richardson

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