Marino Proving his Worth for Devils | FEATURE

The Devils' 4-2 lead dropped to a precarious 4-3 when New York Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck scored a power-play goal with 6:42 remaining the third period. The Madison Square Garden crowd roared with approval and the Rangers continued to pressure the Devils in search of the tying goal.
With 2:53 left on the clock, John Marino stepped onto the ice. His first order of business was blocking a shot from defenseman Adam Fox. Marino remained on the ice until the 2:04 mark when the puck went out of the play.
The Rangers called a timeout and as play resumed, Marino was once again on the ice.
His next order of business was blocking a shot from forward Mika Zibanejad. The puck ended up in the netting again at 1:45. And again, Marino remained on the ice.
At 1:25 left on the clock an icing briefly stopped play. When play resumed, Marino remained on the ice. His third order of business was blocking another shot by Zibanejad.
Marino and the Devils battled on the ice for an uninterrupted 69 seconds with play only halting when Yegor Sharangovich sealed the game with 16 seconds remaining on an empty-net goal.
And with victory assured, Marino came to the bench. His final tally, 2:37 straight minutes with the game on the line and three blocked shots. Not too shabby.

Playing 2:37 of straight hockey is a taxing job, although the frequent stops did provide some relief.
"(With) the stoppages and everything you're fine. There was a timeout," Marino said of the workload. "It's like taking a shift off anyways. So, you're fine in that situation."
But still, the coaching staff could have opted to play a fresher defenseman. But instead, they entrusted Marino to get the job done. (Which, for the record, he did).
"It shows obviously a lot of trust," Marino said. "Those are the situations you want to be in. You want to be trusted for. Those are big time plays. You want to do everything you can to help the team win."
Marino, 25, has been trusted in a lot of situations this season. He leads all Devils' defensemen in ice time per game at 21:46 and his plus-15 on the year ranks fourth (tied) among all NHL blueliners.
It's been as smooth a transition as possible for the 6-foot-1, 181-pound Massachusetts native. Marino, who is signed through the 2026-27 season at $4.4 million average annual value, was acquired in the summer from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Ty Smith and a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
"He's fit in seamlessly with our group. We've got good kids and we've got a really good room," general manager Tom Fitzgerald told the NHL Network. "Bringing John in and knowing that we control him for the next bunch of years, his age fits in really well with where we're at. He's never not made the playoffs. He expects to make the playoffs every year. So, you inject people like that into your room. It's been seamless."
Marino is in just his fourth season and played in Pittsburgh's last three postseasons. Those Penguins teams were led by a lot of veteran players in their 30's, such as Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Jeff Carter. It was an older group with very few younger players.
Coming to the Devils - a team that skews into the early 20's - are a much closer fit for Marino, which has aided him off the ice bonding with his teammates.
"It's helps with a younger team," Marino said. "In Pittsburgh it was a lot of older guys. There wasn't much to do away from the rink. At home here we have a great group of guys that like to hang out. I think mentally it goes a long way."

Marino has come a long way since his rookie season in 2019-20. He's grown into a reliable, steady and effective defender. And now, he's looking to grow the other side of his game.
"I've come a long way and basically trying to stay consistent with it," he said. "Offensively, that's something I'll always have to work on in my career. Really, it's the little things, details and being consistent. Every game in this league is hard no matter what team you're playing. It doesn't matter what night it is. You just have to be ready to go mentally. It's something you have to work on."
One thing Marino has worked on, and to great effect, is defending against 2-on-1s. So far this year, he seems to have a knack for his positioning between the two attacking forwards and perfectly timing his stick use to breakup passes - even a few passes that are elevated.
Some would say it's a natural skill. Or maybe it's something else.
"He's been fortunate to knock some pucks down," fellow defenseman Damon Severson observed. "He comes back to the bench and goes 'I was lucky there.' But there is definitely some skill involved for sure."
Marino still thinks it's the former.
"Some of it is lucky if you get a stick on a 2-on-1 out of mid-air," he said. "But a lot of it is being in the right position. You just see the game differently, the older you get. Each year you try to improve more and more. All the angles and everything, you just get better at it as time goes on."
While he's enjoyed an incredible season so far, Marino was quick to point out that his success is the result of the team's success.
"It's been going well. The team is working. We're just a good team top to bottom," Marino said. "We're really deep up front and on the back end.
"I think every line contributes in their own way and are able to wear teams down and the top lines are able to go out and do their own thing."