Beauty-Ecke » fourth short-handed goal in their past seven games. Florida

NEWARK, N.J. -- With the New Jersey Devils fighting for a playoff spot, Jon Merrill picked the perfect time to score his first NHL goal. The rookie defenceman connected 2:34 into overtime, and the Devils snapped a two-game skid with a 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. "You always dream of this kind of stuff when youre a little kid," the 22-year-old Merrill said. "After 20 games went by and I hadnt scored, I think those dreams went away a little bit. I knew it would come when it came. Tonight was a good opportunity." The goal came in Merrills 31st NHL game and was set up by Adam Henrique winning a battle in the corner and Michael Ryder getting the puck and finding Merrill all alone above the left circle for an uncontested shot against Ilya Bryzgalov. "I saw that four guys kind of collapsed on Ryds," Merrill said. "I was calling for it and he made a great play. I was walking in all alone and fortunately it went in." The win was the second in six games for New Jersey (2-2-2), and it ended a slide that saw the Devils lose the last two games in overtime after giving up the lead late in the third period. "It was awesome for him to get his first goal in overtime," said Henrique, who might have gotten away with a holding-the-stick penalty just before the goal. "Its such an important win for the team. Thats one hes going to remember for the rest of his career." Cory Schneider made 19 saves and Andrei Loktionov scored in regulation for the Devils, who play Saturday night at Washington in their final game before the Olympic break. Taylor Hall had the goal for the Oilers, who lost for only the second time in seven games (5-1-1). Ilya Bryzgalov made 22 saves for Edmonton, which wont play again until Feb. 27. "We found different ways to get points in this stretch," defenceman Justin Schultz said. "We got some solid goaltending. Weve improved our game against these teams that are battling for playoff spots." The Devils hit three posts in the game, with Ryder clanging a shot off the crossbar with 9:20 to play. Both teams went for the win in the final minutes of regulation. Henrique had two chances in close with just more than 4 minutes to go, and defenceman Andrew Ference and Matt Hendricks had chances for Edmonton a minute later. Schneider stopped a chance in close by Jordan Eberle early in overtime. With the Devils struggling to score, coach Pete DeBoer shook up his lines for the game and that led to the teams first goal. Loktionov, who was put at centre on Jaromir Jagrs line, opened the scoring at 11:01 with his first goal since Dec. 4. Jagr and defenceman Bryce Salvador set up the goal. Jagr carried the puck into the Oilers zone and found Salvador on the other side of the ice. He skated toward Bryzgalov and sent a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Loktionov for a shot into an open net. Jagrs assist was the 1,039th of his career, putting him one behind Marcel Dionne for ninth in NHL history. The public address announcer had not finished giving out the assists when Edmonton tied the game 29 seconds later. Hall skated the puck into the Devils end and worked a perfect give-and-go with Nail Yakupov for his 20th goal of the season. Schneider never had a chance to stop the shot into an open net. New Jersey had plenty of opportunities to take the lead in the second period. Devils defenceman Marek Zidlicky hit the post on a power-play shot and Ryane Clowe hit a post on a breakaway after an Oilers turnover. Mark Faynes shot from the point was past Bryzgalov and heading into the net when Ference swept it away from the crease. NOTES: Schultz played in his 100th NHL game. ... Martin Brodeur has been the Devils backup goalie the past five games. He has not played since giving up six goals in two periods during the outdoor game against the New York Rangers at Yankee Stadium. ... Devils D Anton Volchenkov missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Russian Olympian Anton Belov did not play on the road trip. Justin Verlander Astros Jersey . Halak did not get the start in the Washington Capitals Tuesday night game against the St. Alex Bregman Astros Jersey . Heavily-criticized after allowing a dozen goals on 58 shots in two games in Boston, Luongo continued his dominance at home. Hes now allowed two goals in three home games in this series. https://www.cheapastros.com/2043o-jack-mayfield-jersey-astros.html . The attacking midfielder arrives on a free transfer from Spains Malaga. The 28-year-old joins Scottish striker Kenny Miller and Argentine midfielder Matias Laba as designated players on the Whitecaps roster. Denis Menke Jersey . Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel also accused Pistorius of tailoring his testimony to fit the evidence at the scene. Pistorius denied the accusations. Nel alleged that the Olympic runner changed his aim with his 9 mm pistol to ensure that he hit Steenkamp as she fell back against a magazine rack in a toilet cubicle. Robinson Chirinos Jersey . Reyes, 26, was traded from Atlanta to Toronto in July 2010 and spent the remainder of the season in the minors. He began 2011 in the majors and made 20 starts with the Blue Jays, going 5-8 with a 5.40 earned run average before he was waived on Aug.SUNRISE, Fla. - The Columbus Blue Jackets are looking forward to their second playoff appearance in franchise history. Ryan Johansen scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Blue Jackets beat the Florida Panthers for the eighth straight time, 3-2 on Saturday night. Mark Letestu and Cam Atkinson also scored for Columbus and Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves. The Blue Jackets clinched the first wild-card spot and will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. "Just excited for the opportunity to play in the playoffs. Thats something you have to earn and our players went and earned it this year," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "Weve got the opportunity to play one of the premier teams in the league, a team that has talented players, they know how to win, theyre well-coached, and we get to go in their building." Columbus previous playoff appearance was in 2009 when it was swept in four games by Detroit. Philadelphias 4-3 overtime win over Pittsburgh earlier Saturday clinched third place in the Metropolitan Division for the Flyers and forced Columbus to the wild-card spot. The Blue Jackets went 0-5 against the Penguins this season, losing all five in regulation. "Half the guys wanted to play Pittsburgh. I think we owe them more than anything," Atkinson said. Johansens 33rd goal of the season, a one-timer from the left circle after taking a pass from James Wisniewski, got past Luongo at 5:58 of the third period to put Columbus ahead. "When you get passes like that you really just have to hit the net," Johansen said. "All the credit to Wis great vision hitting me down low there. Give them (Florida) credit, they played really hard tonight. Im proud of the guys sticking with it and finally got two points." The Blue Jackets played eight games in the last 12 days; the last three on the road. "The relief is that we got through the game healthy," Richhards said.dddddddddddd "It was tough stretch that we just went through.When that happens, fatigue sets in and usually brains start not functioning in the right way, but we found a way to win the game." Jimmy Hayes and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Panthers. Roberto Luongo stopped 35 shots. Hayes goal in the second period gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead. Hayes grabbed a loose puck in the Columbus zone, brought it down the boards on the right side and his shot from the right circle beat Bobrovsky at 6:35. Columbus tied it at 2 on a power-play goal by Letestu at 10:13 of the second as his wrist shot from the right circle got to the net just as Luongos stick was knocked loose by a Columbus player. The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead just 47 seconds in when Atkinson took a pass from Brandon Dubinsky from the left circle to the right of the crease and tapped it in. "They really took it to us the first 10 minutes, but we settled down afterward," Luongo said. "Just came down to one break for them." The Panthers tied it 1-all when Trocheck scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway. His shot from the slot trickled under the Bobrovskys pads with about a minute left in the first. It was the Panthers fourth short-handed goal in their past seven games. Florida captain Ed Jovanovskis season ended early as he received a game misconduct for an elbow to Corey Tropp with under four minutes left in the first. NOTES: Blue Jackets D Nikita Nikitin returned to the lineup after missing six games with a lower-body injury. ... Panthers C Brandon Pirri has a five-game point-scoring streak. ... The Panthers were outshot 16-3 during one stretch in the first period. ... Nick Bjugstad finished the season as the Panthers leading scorer with 38 points, an NHL record for the fewest points to lead a team. The Panthers became the first team since the 2000-01 Minnesota Wild to go an 82-game season without a 40-point scorer. ' ' '