Blackwood, Devils beat reeling Flyers
Devils 3, Flyers 0: Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves and host New Jersey snapped a four-game skid and sent reeling Philadelphia to its 10th straight loss on Wednesday night.
Jesper Bratt had a second-period goal and assisted on a power-play goal by rookie Dawson Mercer later in the period. Michael McLeod scored into an empty net late as the Devils beat the Flyers for the second time in 10 days.
Carter Hart had 24 saves for the Flyers, who fell to 0-2 under interim coach Mike Yeo. He took over on Monday after Alain Vigneault was fired.
The Flyers’ 10-game skid (0-8-2) is two shy of the team’s longest winless streak.
The record of 12 games (0-8-4) was set from Feb. 24-March 16, 1999. Philadelphia’s last win was 2-1 over Calgary on Nov. 16.
The longest current skid in the NHL is 11, shared by Arizona and the New York Islanders.
After a scoreless first period, Bratt put the Devils ahead at 5:30 of the second. Standing on the outside of the right circle, he took a cross-ice pass from Nico Hischier and beat Hart with a shot that got between the goaltender and the post for his seventh goal.
Mercer scored on a power play a little more than six minutes later. Defenseman Ty Smith took a shot from the point and Mercer tipped it past Hart for his seventh goal.
Avalanche 7, Rangers 3: Logan O’Connor scored twice in a 22-second span in a five-goal second period, and tvisiting Colorado beat the Rangers, ending New York’s seven-game winning streak.
Mikko Rantanen also scored twice for Colarado. Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri and Alex Newhook added goals, and Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves. Kadri, Devon Toews and Samuel Girard each had two assists as the Avalanche improved to 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.
Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba had a goal and an assist and delivered a crushing check in the second straight game.
One night after appearing to drive his right shoulder into the chin of Chicago’s Jujhar Khaira, sending the Blackhawks’ forward to the hospital and into concussion protocol, Trouba hit Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon with a shoulder check midway through the second period.
The Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog immediately dropped his gloves and squared off against Trouba.
Nils Lundkvist and Filip Chytil also scored for the Rangers, who lost at home for the first time since Oct. 25 against Calgary.
Rangers rookie Adam Huska made his NHL debut and finished with 32 saves.