Friday in the NHL | Press

Deprived of their coach, the Devils win in overtime

Jack Hughes rocked the strings at 2:55 into overtime and the New Jersey Devils, without head coach Lindy Ruff, beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 on Friday afternoon.

Ruff tested positive for COVID-19 hours before the meeting. The Devils broke the news about 45 minutes after Ruff missed a pre-game press conference.

The Devils were trailing when Yegor Sharanovich beat Mike Smith on a deflection with 32 seconds left in regulation time.

Hughes ended the game with two goals and one assist. Nico Hischier, rookie Dawson Mercer and Janne Kuokkanen scored the Devils’ other goals.

This is the second straight win for the Devils, following a six-game losing streak.

Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto each scored twice for the Oilers, who suffered a second straight loss. Devin Shore also scored.

Oilers goaltender Mike Smith recovered from a shaky start to the game and made 35 saves. He would probably like to see again Hughes’ winning shot from the top of the left circle that slipped between his pads.

Smith stopped a Hughes breakaway minutes earlier in overtime.

The Oilers came from behind to take the 5-4 lead thanks to goals from Shore and Yamamoto in 72 seconds. Yamamoto’s goal sparked discontent among the Devils because they were sure they had controlled the puck enough for the official to call the penalty that had been reported against them.

Alain Nasreddine, who piloted the team in Ruff’s absence, requested the replay to challenge the goal. The referees analyzed the footage for over five minutes before determining that the footage could not be reviewed.

McDavid tied the game at 3-3 when he scored at 7:57 of the second period. McDavid was thrown on a fumble by a precise pass from defenseman Duncan Keith.

The Golden Knights have the upper hand over the Ducks

Laurent Brossoit turned back 15 shots and the Las Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Friday to deepen their lead atop the Pacific Section.

Mattias Janmark, Adam Brooks and Nicolas Roy all found the back of the net for the Golden Knights. The Vegas side took their record to 4-0 in New Years Eve and New Years games at home.

Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks with 12 seconds left in the game to sabotage what would have been the third shutout of Brossoit’s career. John Gibson parried 42 shots for the Ducks.

The Golden Knights have won for the 10th time in their last 12 meetings. Totaling 44 points, they extended their lead over the Ducks at the top of the Pacific section to three points.

After a hot 10-4-3 start, the Ducks are 7-6-4 in their last 17 games. The 16 shots in the direction of Brossoit were the lowest total this season for the Dallas Eakins squad.

Roy opened the scoring when he redirected Ben Hutton’s shot behind Gibson midway through the first period. It was the Quebec forward’s seventh goal during the campaign, a peak for him in the NHL.

Former Canadian Brooks doubled his team’s lead with a mysterious goal. His receiving shot hid between the net and the post and took the officials a few moments to uncover.

Janmark, who also missed a penalty shot, gave the Golden Knights a serious option on the game when he made it 3-0. He had served caviar to Keegan Kolesar who could not thread the needle. The return slipped to Janmark who shot between the multiple players in front of the net. It was his fourth goal of the season.

Wg Ramirez, Associated Press