Everything seemed to indicate that we would need overtime in the game between the New Jersey Devils and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, but Ryan Graves decided otherwise.
Well placed in the slot, he scored the game-winning goal just before the sound of the siren to give the Devils a 4-3 win.
The New Jersey team made a move into the opposing zone in the final moments of the third period with a 3-3 tie. Michael McLeod performed a great maneuver to clear Elvis Merzlikins from his net and send the puck into the slot . Perfectly placed, Graves only had to push the puck deep into the net with less than two seconds to go.
This net contrasts with that of Jesper Bratt who had been scored in the seventh second of play in the middle period. Yegor Sharangovich was the other Devils scorer. Vitek Vanecek saved 31 pucks in front of his net.
Johnny Gaudreau had also scored a goal with two seconds left in one period, but in his case, it was the first. He jumped on a loose puck to find the back of the net on the power play. Adam Boqvist scored his first goal of the season for the Jackets in that game.
When the Tsar is not there, the mice dance
Without Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals were unable to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes, who won 3-2 on Tuesday.
Ovechkin is sidelined due to a family situation.
Defenseman Brent Burns put the Hurricanes ahead in the first period. It was the 35th goal scored by Canes defensemen this season, an NHL high.
Still in first, TJ Oshie tied the game for the Capitals with his eleventh of the campaign.
Paul Stastny put the Hurricanes back ahead at 2:33 into the second period.
Minutes later, Joe Snively brought both teams back to square one with his first of the season.
It was ultimately Stefan Noesen’s tenth goal of the season on a power play that made the difference. It is the second time in his career that he has reached the ten-goal mark. In 2017-18, he found the back of the net 13 times. In that span of four seasons, he had only scored a total of ten goals with the Devils, Penguins, Sharks, Maple Leafs and Hurricanes.
False note for the Panthers against the Blues
Brayden Schenn scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season in a 6-2 St. Louis Blues win over the Florida Panthers.
His two goals put his team ahead by two goals after 35 seconds in the second period.
The Blues took a serious option on victory when Nick Leddy gave his team a three-goal lead to win a second straight game.
In the bottom of the second, Eetu Luostarinen revived the Panthers’ hopes with his 13th of the season at 18:44, but his team was unable to close the gap in the final period.
The Blues put the game out of reach for the visitors as Ryan O’Reilly scored his 12th of the season and Jordan Kyrou his 24th to make it 5-1.
Trailing by four goals, Carter Verhaeghe scored his 29th of the season for the Panthers.
Ivan Barbashev completed in a goal net in addition to participating in two of the Blues’ goals by being an accomplice.
The final word belongs to the Jets
The Winnipeg Jets came from behind to defeat the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in the shootout.
It was the first shootout of the season for the Jets, the only team in this situation before this game. They have won eight of their last nine overtime or shootout games.
After 65 minutes of play without making a master, Mark Scheifele and Pierre-Luc Dubois were the only ones to hit the target in a tiebreaker. On the side of the Kraken, no shooter managed to deceive the vigilance of goalkeeper David Rittich, who faced 29 shots in regulation time.
In the first 60 minutes, Blake Wheeler gave the Jets the lead at 7:01 of the second period. Which meant he had been a part of the Jets’ last four goals after a two-goal, one-assist performance in the previous game.
In the same period, John Hayden and Jared McCann with his 25th of the season put the Kraken ahead by one goal. It was 2-1 after 40 minutes.
That lead lasted until 9:39 of the third period when Dubois hit the target for the tying goal with his 23rd of the season.
Josh Morrissey added an assist on Dubois’ tying goal to take his stats to 11 goals and 45 assists for 56 points, tying the Thrashers/Jets franchise record for a defenseman that belonged lonely to Dustin Byfuglien since the 2013-14 season.
