DEVS WIN WITH 1.4 TICKS LEFT
COLUMBUS — Ryan Graves scored off a feed from Michael McLeod in front of the net with 1.4 seconds left, and the Devils beat the Blue Jackets, 3-2, on Tuesday night for their fourth win in five games.
Yegor Sharangovich and Jesper Bratt scored the other goals for the Devils, and Graves also picked up an assist. Vitek Vanecek stopped 31 shots for the Devils, who remain three points behind firstplace Carolina and moved five ahead of the Rangers in the Metropolitan Division.
Adam Boqvist notched a goal and an assist, and Johnny Gaudreau scored for Columbus, which has lost five of six, including three straight at home, and continues to sit last in the NHL. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 29 shots.
The teams traded goals through the first two periods, scoring late and early.
Sharangovich made it 1-0 at 10:46 of the first and Gaudreau tied it on a power-play goal with 1.3 second left in the period.
Bratt’s go-ahead goal came seven seconds into the second period before Boqvist tied it again at 4:41 with his first score of the year.
The Devils visit the Blues on Thursday night.
Alex Ovechkin will be away from the Capitals to attend to a family matter and the health of a loved one and is expected to be gone for at least the rest of the week, if not longer.
General manager Brian MacLellan announced Ovechkin’s absence before the team’s morning skate Tuesday. No further details were released, though it appears Washington is preparing to be without its longtime captain and face of the franchise for an extended period.
Coach Peter Laviolette said he doesn’t envision Ovechkin will be back “in the foreseeable future.”
“When it comes to your family and parents, that’s what matters,” Laviolette said.
Further complicating matters if Ovechkin needs to go home to Russia, where his parents and other family members live, are travel restrictions in place amid the country’s war in Ukraine.