By Canadian Press

Mercer scores twice, Devils top Hurricanes in Metro matchup

Jan 10, 2023 | 11:44 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Dawson Mercer scored twice and the New Jersey Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 on Tuesday night despite allowing two short-handed goals.

Mercer gave the Devils their first lead at 8:53 of the third period on his 10th goal of the season. It was the first multi-goal performance of his 123-game NHL career.

The Devils began a five-game trip by winning for the third time in four tries. They moved within two points of the first-place Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division.

Jonas Siegenthaler, Jesper Boqvist and Nico Hischier also scored for New Jersey. Michael McLeod had two assists, and Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves for his fourth victory in a row.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Max Pacioretty and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes, who lost their fourth straight and squandered a two-goal lead in the last minute of the second period. Pyotr Kochetkov made 17 saves.

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RANGERS 4, WILD 3, SO

NEW YORK (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored the deciding goal in a shootout and New York beat Minnesota.

K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox each had a goal and an assist, and Filip Chytil also scored for New York. Igor Shesterkin finished with 28 saves as the Rangers moved to 4-0-2 since a 4-0 loss to Washington on Dec. 27.

Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Jon Merrill scored and Sam Steel had two assists for Minnesota, which is 9-3-2 in its last 14 games. Marc-Andre Fleury had a season-high 41 saves.

Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers and Zuccarello for the Wild in the first round of the tiebreaker. Panarin then lifted the puck over a sprawled Fleury on the Rangers’ third attempt and Shesterkin denied Frederick Gaudreau to preserve the win.

LIGHTNING 6, BLUE JACKETS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists, and Tampa Bay won its eighth consecutive home game by defeating Columbus.

The Lightning also got goals from Nick Paul, Vladislav Namestnikov, Brayden Point and Ross Colton. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves.

Steven Stamkos had two assists but remains two goals away from becoming the 47th NHL player to reach 500.

Elvis Merzlikins stopped 40 shots for Columbus. Gavin Bayreuther, Tim Berni and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost 10 in a row on the road and are 2-14-1 away from home.

Point extended his team record of consecutive home games with a goal to nine with Tampa Bay’s third power-play goal.

PENGUINS 5, CANUCKS 4

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored twice and added two assists as Pittsburgh roared back from an early deficit against Vancouver.

Malkin’s 28th career four-point game — fourth-most among active players — helped spark the Penguins after they spotted the Canucks a three-goal lead. Malkin started the comeback with Pittsburgh’s first power-play goal in nearly two weeks and gave the Penguins the lead after executing a pretty give-and-go with Jason Zucker.

Zucker, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell also scored for Pittsburgh, which has won two straight following a six-game losing streak. Dustin Tokarski came in after Casey DeSmith was pulled 7:05 into the first period. Tokarski made 18 saves to pick up his first victory since April while playing for Buffalo.

Conor Garland, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes scored during a 2:19 span of the first period to chase DeSmith. Travis Dermott pulled the Canucks within a goal with 7:08 to play but Vancouver couldn’t draw even while losing for the fifth time in six games. Spencer Martin made 31 stops but dropped his fourth straight start.

STARS 2, ISLANDERS 1, SO

NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Robertson scored in regulation and converted the only goal in the shootout to give Dallas a victory over New York.

Robertson wired a wrist shot over Ilya Sorokin’s glove in the shootout. Dallas’ Jake Oettinger made 26 saves and stopped Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier and Brock Nelson in the tiebreaker.

Anders Lee scored for the Islanders and Sorokin finished with 23 saves in the opener of a five-game homestand.

PANTHERS 5, AVALANCHE 4

DENVER (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk scored his second goal of the game with 3:30 remaining and Florida beat Colorado after blowing a three-goal lead in the third period.

Tkachuk kept swiping at the puck down low on a power play until defenseman Cale Makar finally pushed it toward the side. But the puck went in off the skate of Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues.

Aleksander Barkov, Brandon Montour and Sam Bennett all scored in the first period to give the Panthers a quick 3-0 start. Tkachuk added another goal in the second.

Trailing 4-1 midway through the third, Colorado got goals from Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon just 20 seconds apart. J.T. Compher tied it with 7:53 left, moments after the Avalanche had a goal disallowed on a successful Panthers challenge for offside.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots for Florida.

Andrew Cogliano also scored for the Avalanche, who have dropped six of their last seven games (1-5-1). Georgiev made 32 saves in his 12th straight start — most by a Colorado goaltender since 2015.

KRAKEN 4, SABRES 3

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Matty Beniers, Justin Schultz and Jordan Eberle each had a goal and an assist as Seattle rallied past Buffalo for its sixth consecutive win.

Yanni Gourde also scored, Andre Burakovsky had two assists and Philipp Grubauer made 32 saves in the fifth of a seven-game trip, Seattle’s longest of the season.

Alex Tuch scored twice for the Sabres, Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist and Jeff Skinner added two assists. Eric Comrie stopped 18 shots in his first start since sustaining a lower-body injury on Nov. 16.

It was Buffalo’s second home loss in two nights after winning eight of nine games.

RED WINGS 7, JETS 5

DETROIT (AP) — Moritz Seider had four assists, tying the Red Wings’ record for a defenseman, and Detroit topped Winnipeg to snap a three-game skid.

Jake Walman, Jonatan Berggren and Oskar Sundqvist scored in the first period — all assisted by Seider — to give Detroit a 3-0 lead. Dominik Kubalik, Dylan Larkin, Robby Fabbri and Lucas Raymond also scored for the Red Wings. Ville Husso finished with 32 saves.

Neal Pionk, Sam Gagner, Nate Schmidt, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, whose five-game winning streak ended.

Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck allowed six goals on 22 shots as he lost for the first time since Dec. 27.

BLUES 4, FLAMES 3, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Robert Thomas’ goal 28 seconds into overtime capped St. Louis’ comeback against Calgary.

Thomas’ winner came on a one-timer off an odd-man rush with Jordan Kyrou, who had a goal and two assists. Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Alexandrov also scored for the Blues, who won their fourth in the last five games. Jordan Binnington made 28 saves.

Andrew Mangiapane had a goal and an assist for Calgary. Milan Lucic and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames, who lost their third game in the last four. Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots.

SHARKS 4, COYOTES 2

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Matt Nieto scored the tiebreaking goal nine seconds into the third period and San Jose handed Arizona its sixth straight defeat.

Jaycob Megna scored with six minutes remaining for the Sharks. Megna’s goal, his first of the season, came on an assist from Erik Karlsson, who leads the NHL with 42 assists and has points in 15 of the last 16 games.

Kevin Labanc and Nico Sturm also scored for the Sharks, who had lost five of six. Kaapo Kahkonen made 26 saves.

Barrett Hayton and Christian Fischer scored for the Coyotes, and Karel Vejmelka stopped 29 shots. Jakob Chychrun and Shayne Gostisbehere each had two assists.

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The Associated Press