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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...

Blackwood And The Avalanche Shutout Flyers 2-0


 





On Sunday, February 2nd, the Avalanche continued their dominant defensive streak, blanking the Philadelphia Flyers at Ball Arena for their second consecutive shutout victory while simultaneously handing Philadelphia their third straight loss, also their third loss without scoring a goal. Samuel Girard and Nathan MacKinnon each scored the two goals for Colorado. Mackenzie Blackwood stood tall between the pipes, turning aside all 24 shots he faced to secure the shutout, who previously stopped all 19 shots he faced in the 5-0 win on Friday against the St. Louis Blues. The Avalanche will be heading out on the road for a five-game road trip, starting in Vancouver on Tuesday, while the Flyers take on the Utah Hockey Club in search of a win to snap their losing streak.


Colorado Avalanche Lineup:

Lehkonen - MacKinnon - Necas

Drouin - Mittelstadt - Parssinen

Wood - Drury - Colton

Kiviranta - Kelly - O'Connor


Toews - Makar

Girard - Manson

Middleton - Malinski


Blackwood

Miner


Philadelphia Flyers Lineup:

Laughton - Abols - Brink

Foerster - Cates - Konecny

Richard - Couturier - Michkov

Gaucher - Hathaway


York - Sanheim

Andrae - Ristolainen

Seeler - Drysdale

Johnson


Ersson

Fedotov


After a scoreless 20, Samuel Girard opened the scoring on a wrist shot for his third of the season to put Colorado in front 1-0 with 11:27 on the clock in the second period. Girard took a drop pass from Casey Mittelstadt on a 3-on-2 rush after Scott Laughton shot wide on a 3-on-1 rush and the Avalanche got the puck out of their zone, Mittelstadt carrying it out and through the neutral zone into the Flyers' zone after taking a pass from Jonathan Drouin. Nathan MacKinnon extended the lead to 2-0 with his 20th of the season on a power-play goal later into the frame at 2:32 after passing back and forth, getting the puck back from Cale Makar, and firing a wrister from the left face-off dot, far-side past Samuel Ersson's glove.


The third period stayed scoreless, the Flyers could not find the back of the net and the Avalanche won with a 2-0 score.


Notes:

- With his power-play goal, which had been his first since October 28th (a span of 44 games), Nathan MacKinnon hit the 20-goal mark for the 10th time during his NHL career and his eighth in a row. In franchise history, only four other players have registered double-digit 20-goal campaigns including, Joe Sakic (17), Milan Hejduk (11), Peter Stastny (10), and Michel Goulet (10). ...MacKinnon is the first player, so far, this season to reach 80 points. 

- Jonathan Drouin collected a pair of assists.

- CO: 31-21-2, PHILLY: 23-25-6

- Scott Wedgewood wasn't backup for Mackenzie Blackwood due to an upper-body injury, day-to-day.

- Samuel Ersson made a total of 30 saves for Philadelphia.

- Rasmus Ristolainen left during the second period due to an undisclosed injury, not returning for the remainder of the game. There had been no update on him postgame.

- Making his NHL debut for the Philadelphia Flyers, Jacob Gaucher is the 70th undrafted player in franchise history to make his NHL debut.

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