Devils Win Thriller in Shootout, 3-2 Over Wild

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On Monday night, the injury-riddled Minnesota Wild traveled to Newark in an attempt to gain revenge on the New Jersey Devils, who defeated them on Saturday. But the Devils bested them again as they grinded out a 3-2 shootout victory. Luke Hughes had two points and Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 of 29 (.931%) for his 25th victory of the season. They improve to 40-29-7; the Wild fall to 41-29-5.

The Wild were outshooting the Devils 6-0 early on, but the script flipped about halfway through the first. The Devils took control, notching the next 10 shots, and then Luke Hughes cashed in with a perfect wrist shot to put them up 1-0 at first intermission.

In the second, both teams played a playoff-type, stifling game and there wasn’t much room for either side. The score remained the same heading into the third, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Vinnie Hinostroza deflected a point shot past Markstrom to knot it up. But with 10:48 to go, Nico Hischier deflected a pass in tight to restore the Devils’ lead – his 34th of the season.

The clock was ticking on Minnesota, until Matt Boldy tied it on a sweet backhand with just over two minutes to go. The Devils held the puck behind the net for the final 30 seconds, gladly taking the point and hoping for more.

Paul Cotter won it in overtime…or so everyone thought. The Devils were about to leave the ice and had already celebrated, when it was announced that it was being reviewed for offsides. And it was, sending the game into a shootout moments later.

Cotter came up big again as he scored to start the shootout. Markstrom stopped Mats Zuccarello, Jesper Bratt scored and Markstrom stopped Boldy to win it, for real this time.

The Wild will continue their road trip on Wednesday against the New York Rangers (7:00 PM EDT); the Devils will also face the Rangers next, at the Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon (12:30 PM EDT).

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