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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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Maple Leafs Defeat Montreal Canadiens 3-2, 3/9/24

 




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


   The Maple Leafs handed the Montreal Canadiens their second-straight loss on Saturday, March 9th. It was a close game for both teams, it could've gone either way. After a 4-1 loss against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, it was a good win for Toronto. John Tavares scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, recording his 20th goal of the season. The Maple Leafs played without Mitch Marner due to a lower-body injury... this will be further evaluated in Toronto.


Maple Leafs lineup against the Canadiens:

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Nylander

Domi - Tavares - Jarnkrok

Knies - Kampf - McMann

Holmberg - Dewar - Reaves


Brodie - McCabe

Rielly - Lyubushkin

Edmundson - Liljegren


Samsonov

Woll


Canadiens lineup against the Maple Leafs:

Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky

Roy - Newhook - Armia

Gallagher - Evans - Anderson

Pezzetta - Harvey-Pinard - Pearson


Matheson - Guhle

Xhekaj - Savard

Struble - Harris


Montembeault

Primeau


   Opening the scoring just 36 seconds into the first period for Montreal to get them the 1-0 lead - Mike Matheson went for his ninth goal of the season when he took a return pass from Cole Caufield after cutting across the goalmouth, then tucked a backhand around Ilya Samsonov. This had been the only goal scored through the entire opening 20 minutes.


   Bobby McMann tied it 1-1 39 seconds into the middle for his 10th goal of the season. On the 2-on-1 at the right side, he shot past Sam Montembeault's blocker. Later into the second period at 1:19, Max Domi gave the Maple Leafs the lead on the rush to hunt down his eighth of the season. He caught up with a long pass by Calle Jarnkrok in Montreal's offensive zone and then flipped a shot into the net under Montembeault's left arm.


   At 14:55 of the third on the power play, Alex Newhook tied the game back up at 2-2. Newhook took a pass from Juraj Slafkovsky alongside the right boards and sent a wrist shot into the net from the right face-off circle. John Tavares (Johnny Toronto!!!!) broke the tie for the game-winner at 6:46 when he battled for position with Tanner Pearson, then drove the puck past the goal line from the left edge of the crease for the 3-2 final.




Max Domi on the Maple Leafs' 3-2 victory: "First of all, a lot of credit to the Habs. They came out flying and I don't think we were at the best of our game early on, but we found a way to stick with it. Obviously, 'Sammy' was great, PK was great tonight, and we capitalized on our chances tonight. A lot of resilience tonight, showed a lot of character, it was a huge win."


John Tavares on the game and Toronto's win: "There's no doubt we weren't very fresh today but that's the nature of playing in the NHL in the 82-game grind, and I think we knew any time you play Montreal, it's always really special between these two clubs and what's been going on for over 100 years. I think as players, you sense that and feel that certainly between the fan bases in both buildings and they came out with a lot of jump, a lot of energy. They got the start they wanted, it's certainly not what we wanted but I like how we just stayed with it, offensively, it hasn't been the greatest week for us, things haven't been clicking as well as we'd like. I just like how we stayed with it and found a way to earn the opportunities we got to make the most of them."




Notes:

- Max Domi had a goal and an assist, and Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves for Toronto.

- Joel Edmundson and Connor Dewar made their Maple Leafs debut. Edmundson was acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Thursday, had 19:03 of ice time, and had one shot on goal... Dewar was acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Friday and played 11:13.

- Bobby McMann scored eight goals in the past 14 games... only John Tavares (12 goals) and William Nylander (nine goals) have scored more over that stretch for Toronto.

- Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist, and Juraj Slafkovsky recorded two assists... Sam Montembeault made 24 saves.

  Slafkovsky has 43 points (17 goals, 26 assists) in 103 NHL games... he passed Jesperi Kotkaniemi for fourth-most points by a teenager in Canadiens history behind Mario Tremblay (66 points), Alex Galchenyuk (50 points), and Petr Svoboda (45 points).

 




Postgame: Ilya Samsonov

Postgame: Bobby McMann

Postgame: Sheldon Keefe

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