– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY — The New Jersey Devils scored three game-winning goals from the third period on. Only one of them had to count to make their topsy-turvy victory official, and it finally came after regulation.
Paul Cotter and Jesper Bratt scored in the shootout for the Devils, who overcame giving up a late equalizer in regulation and having a game-winning goal disallowed in overtime to defeat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 inside the Prudential Center on Monday night. Luke Hughes and Nico Hischier scored in regulation for New Jersey, who won its second straight against Minnesota in a three-day span.
Cotter and Hischier thought they had combined to win the game in overtime, when the latter appeared to keep the puck in the blue line before setting up the former, who rifled in a shot from the right wing past Wild goalkeeper Filip Gustavsson to set off celebrations. After a review, the puck was judged to have left the zone before Hischier played it, ruling the goal off for offside.
Minnesota scored two game-tying goals in the third period, from Vinnie Hinostroza at the 2:57 mark and Matt Boldy with just 2:08 remaining in regulation to salvage a point.
In between those Wild tallies, New Jersey thought that had retaken the lead when Brett Pesce’s hopeful shot on goal from the blue line bounced upward off Gustavsson and onto his back as he was trying to keep the puck from falling down behind him and into the net. The goal light turned on as Gustavsson wrapped his left arm around his back on the goal line, and a subsequent review confirmed that the puck did not fully cross the line, keeping the score tied at 1-1.
Luke Hughes scored his seventh goal of the season at the 12:30 mark of the first period for the only goal in the game’s first two periods.
Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for the Devils, including four in the game’s first five minutes as Minnesota carried the play and had the puck almost exclusively in New Jersey’s zone. Gustavsson made 26 saves for Minnesota.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Monday evening’s game, with photos taken by New York City-area photographer Matthew Last. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 22 pictures in total.
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