Blackwood nets 1st win
Goaltender stops 40 shots in second start to beat Bruins
BOSTON — Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 40 shots for his first NHL victory, Blake Coleman scored twice and the New Jersey Devils beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Thursday night.
Damon Severson scored 25 seconds into the game and Kyle Palmieri added his team-high 19th goal for the Devils, who won on the road for just the fourth time this season.
Nico Hirschier had a goal and an assist and Andy Greene had a pair of assists as New Jersey got its first win in Boston in five years.
Patrice Bergeron and Chris Wagner scored for Boston, and Jaroslav Halak had 28 saves.
Severson's early goal on a wrist shot from the right circle gave the rookie Blackwood a lead the Devils never relinquished.
Blackwood, who was making his second career start, stopped 18 of 19 shots in the second period to help stave off the Bruins.
Boston got its first goal with 4:53 left in the second on Wagner's one-timer from the slot off a pass from John Moore, cutting New Jersey's lead to 2-1.
Coleman got the twogoal lead back for the Devils after he blocked a slap shot by Torey Krug at the blue line and outraced Brandon Carlo to the rebound for a breakaway, getting Halak with a backhand 4:15 into the third.
Hischier scored 12:43 into the third and Coleman scored into an empty net with 46 seconds remaining.
The Devils went up 2-0 with 4:35 left in the first on a power-play goal by Palmieri, whose slap shot from the right point bounced off Halak and hit Carlo, then bounced back over Halak into the net.
Notes: Blackwood was playing in his fourth career game since being called up from AHL Binghamton on Dec. 17 after starter Cory Schneider went on injured reserve with an abdominal strain.
The Penguins signed center Jake Guentzel to a five-year contract extension worth an average of $6 million a year, the team announced Thursday.
The deal begins next season.
Through Thursday night's 5-2 win over the visiting Red Wings, Guentzel, 24, has 15 goals and 18 assists in 36 games.
In the Penguins' Stanley Cup title run in 2017, Guentzel had a playoff-best 13 goals and totaled 21 points. He had 10 goals and 21 points in just 12 playoff games last season.
Alex Killorn scored 18 seconds into OT and the Lightning extended their point streak to 13 games with a 6-5 win over the visiting Flyers. ... Patrick Kane had a hat trick to help the host Blackhawks beat the Wild 5-2 for their fourth win in five games. ... Pierre-Luc Dubois scored 31 seconds into OT and the Blue Jackets beat the host Rangers 4-3 for their fifth straight win. ... Johnny Gaudreau had a hat trick as the Flames ended a three-game skid with a 4-1 road win over the Jets. ... G Carey Price will miss the Canadiens' three-game road trip due to a lower-body injury. ... Maple Leafs C Auston Matthews, Oilers C Connor McDavid, Capitals F Alex Ovechkin and Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon were named All-Star captains. News services
BRIDGEPORT — Scott Eansor scored two goals, including a shorthanded score with 18 seconds remaining in the second period, as the Sound Tigers defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 on Thursday night.
The loss snapped a three-game Hartford win streak and evened the season series to this point at 3-3.
Eansor got the Sound Tigers on the board early in the first with his fourth goal of the season off of an assist from Tanner Fritz. But just 1:31 later Hartford tied things up with a goal from Ville Meskanen, his seventh. Kieffer Bellows put Bridgeport back on top with his ninth, at the 9:24 mark, sending the Sound Tigers into the first intermission up 2-1.
Vinnie Lettieri got Hartford even with his ninth of the season with 6:40 remaining in the second period. But Eansor then got the lead back for good for Bridgeport with an unassisted shorthanded goal with just 18 seconds remaining.
Earlier it was announced that the parent New York Rangers have reassigned defenseman Sean Day and forward Ryan Gropp to the Wolf Pack from its ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners.
Day, a rookie out of the Ontario Hockey League and a thirdround (81st overall) Ranger draft pick in 2016, played in six games with Hartford earlier in the season. While playing with Maine he has four goals and 11 assists.