CHICAGO – Yegor Sharangovich and Dawson Mercer scored second-period goals and the New Jersey Devils won their third straight game, beating the San Jose Sharks 2-1.
Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier each had an assist, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves as the Devils continue to play well after a 0-2 start.
Max Domi, meanwhile, stole the puck from Lucas Raymond and scored in overtime, lifting Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in the Blackhawks’ home opener.
“I think back-to-back wins, I think we’ve showed some good resilience,” Andreas Athanasiou said according to AP. “Just not giving up on it. It just kind of shows the group we have in here.”
“They really showed a lot of character in that room,” first-year coach Luke Richardson said.
Richardson said Mrazek felt he had a “small injury” at the end of the second.
“Probably tomorrow he won’t be on the ice,” Richardson said. “We’ll just keep him off and just see how it settles, and then take steps from there.”
Dominik Kubalik had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which dropped its second straight game in overtime. Dylan Larkin and Pius Suter also scored, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves.
“We just let our foot off the gas,” Larkin said. “They came out to play in the third. We didn´t.”
It was Kubalik´s first game against Chicago since he signed a $5 million, two-year contract with Detroit in July. Kubalik spent his first three NHL seasons with the Blackhawks, getting 62 goals and 54 assists in 202 games.
The 27-year-old forward got his second goal with his new team when he tipped Olli Maatta’s shot past Mrazek on the goaltender’s glove side, making it 3-1 with 8:42 left in the second.
Athanasiou converted a penalty shot into the second for his first goal with his new team. It was the first penalty-shot goal for the Blackhawks since Jonathan Toews got one on March 11, 2019, against Arizona.
Chicago then tied it at 3 with two goals in the third. Kurashev beat Nedeljkovic with a backhand on a rebound.
“A lot of mistakes ended up in the back of our net,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “The reality is, they´ve got to go through things like this to learn.”
Elsewhere, Karson Kuhlman scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Seattle Kraken beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2.
Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann scored 22 seconds apart in the second period and added an assist each for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer had 17 saves before being replaced by Martin Jones midway through the third period. Jones got the win with just one save. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol did not have an update on Grubauer´s status after the game.
“That was an all-around good team effort,” Schwartz said. “Thought we checked them hard, took away their time and space had some pretty good (offensive) zone time. We looked quicker and a little bit cleaner coming out of our end.”
Bowen Byram had a goal and an assist and Evan Rodrigues also scored for Colorado, which has dropped two straight.
“They´re solid team but I don´t think it was as much them as it was us,” Byram said.
Kuhlman put the Kraken ahead when he maneuvered around Kurtis McDermid and beat Pavel Francouz with 7:54 left in the third.
“Schwartzy makes a good play, putting puck into space. Let me skate into it,” Kuhlman said. “He was kind of draped on me there. I usually like to get that puck to the far post, kind of beat the goalie over there, but saw a little opening and was able to put it in the net.”
The game was scoreless after the first period but the teams combined for three goals in the first six minutes of the second. Schwartz scored a power-play goal with a one-timer from the slot, and McCann´s second goal of the season made it 2-0 just 22 seconds later.
The Avalanche cut the lead in half when Rodrigues scored off a feed from Valeri Nichushkin for his first goal in a Colorado sweater. Nichushkin had two assists.
“It felt good, however it´s not the result we wanted,” Rodrigues said. “But good to get that one out of the way.”“
