TORONTO – Mackenzie Blackwood recorded 42 saves and the Devils had goals from Blake Pietila and Nick Lappin in a 2-1 road victory of the Toronto Marlies on Saturday night in front of 5,946 at Coca Cola Coliseum.
The Devils scored the only goal of the first period to lead 1-0 after 20 minutes. On the power play, Colton White sent a shot on net from the center point and Blake Pietila deflected the puck by goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo for his fourth of the year. Assists were credited to White and Brandon Gignac and the Devils took that lead into the intermission, along with an 8-6 shot advantage.
The only goal of the second period came off the stick of Nick Lappin after he forced a turnover off the stick of Adam Brooks. Lappin took the puck to the hash marks and fired a low wrist shot by the right leg pad of Kaskisuo for the two-goal lead. The Devils led 2-0 after two periods with the Marlies leading in shots, 19-18. Towards the end of the second, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped two big Marlies’ power-play chances to keep the defending champions off the board.
In the third period, the Marlies cashed in on a five-on-three power play to pull within one goal. Sam Gagner put the puck past Blackwood for his seventh of the season with assists from Dmytro Timashov and Calle Rosen at 11:38.
With the net empty in the end, John Ramage had a key shot block that cleared the puck down ice and the Devils took the game, 2-1. Blackwood earned first star honors with his 42-save effort while Kaskisuo picked up loss, stopping 23.
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