Dumoulin’s Overtime Winner Helps Devils Escape Shaky Effort in Boston

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On Tuesday evening, the New Jersey Devils headed north to face the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Devils were hoping to gain some revenge for an ugly 7-2 loss to the Bruins just a week prior, and did so successfully, as they narrowly escaped the Bruins’ comeback effort in a 5-4 overtime victory. They improve to 42-32-7; the Bruins fall to 33-39-10.

The Devils had their foot on the gas right away, clearly hungry, and cashed in as Timo Meier sniped one past Jeremy Swayman. But just over a minute later, Morgan Geekie tied it on a delayed penalty.

29 seconds into the second, David Pastrnak continued to torment the Devils as he backhanded one past Jake Allen to make it 2-1. The Devils had an immediate response, though. Stefan Noesen scored a gritty goal on the power play to knot it up. Then Simon Nemec scored with a quick shot off the draw to make it 3-2 Devils. The Bruins were hoping to get to the locker room and regroup, but couldn’t in time as Vinny Lettieri took a penalty and Dawson Mercer scored on the ensuing power play. But the Bruins had a late answer as John Farinacci, in his NHL Debut, scored to make it a 4-3 game at the horn.

Early in the third, Fabian Lysell rushed past Devils’ defenseman Brenden Dillon and fed Marat Khunsnutinov, who finished the chance to tie it. That’s where the score stayed at the end of regulation.

The Devils had the puck for most of the overtime session and finally came through as Brian Dumoulin scored his first as a Devil, a perfect wrister to win it. It wasn’t always pretty, but likely will serve as a momentum boost nonetheless as they officially snapped their three-game skid.

Tonight was the Bruins’ final contest of the season, a largely disappointing one as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Devils will return home tomorrow night (Wednesday, 7:30 PM EDT) to face the Detroit Red Wings as they conclude their regular season and prep to face the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 1.

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