Devils defeat Bruins in OT for Ruff's first win as coach

NEWARK, N.J. -- Yegor Sharangovich scored his first NHL goal with two seconds remaining in overtime to give Lindy Ruff his first win as coach of the New Jersey Devils, a 2-1 victory against the Boston Bruins at Prudential Center on Saturday.

"I think it's the best moment in my hockey career," Sharangovich said. "[I'm] really happy because we won. We'll take two points in [the] second game and I scored [my] first goal in [the] NHL. I don't know ... I'm really happy."
Sharangovich scored from the slot after taking a backhand pass from defenseman Damon Severson.
"It was really great pass from Severson," Sharangovich said. "It's such a good pass and then I just have a breakaway and I close my eyes and shoot it. Right now, I just keep [the game puck] with me. After the season, when I go home, I'll just keep it with me."

Ruff, who was hired July 9, got his first win since April 8, 2017, when he was with the Dallas Stars. He is sixth in NHL history in wins (737) and seventh in games coached (1,495).
"It was awesome (to get the win)," Ruff said. "To get the win the way we did; we said we need to be a good defensive team and I thought we played well away from the puck, and you can win a lot of different ways, but I really felt it was a total 60-minute game where everybody really played well for us."
Miles Wood scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves for the Devils (1-0-1).
"Up front, we got great play out of our forwards, our defense had a really good night and [Blackwood] gave us a couple of great saves when we needed them," Ruff said. "To win like that, it was great."

Patrice Bergeron scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves for the Bruins (1-0-1), who defeated the Devils 3-2 in a shootout in the season opener here Thursday.
"It was one of those afternoon games that we have to find energy early in the game," Halak said. "In the first period, we were a little bit slower than them, but as the game went on, we picked up our pace. We all know, as a group, we need to be better from the get-go. We need to play for 60 minutes."
Wood gave the Devils a 1-0 lead on a deflection at the left post off a shot from the left point by rookie defenseman Ty Smith at 16:15 of the first period.
Bergeron tied it 1-1 on a shorthanded goal off a snap shot from between the face-off circles at 17:16 of the second period.
"I thought early on we were kind of not fast enough and not closing hard enough to get that sustained pressure in their zone," Bergeron said. "When they were able to break out, they beat guys and you're backchecking and you're spending energy that you don't want to in your own end. I thought after that we got better, and it was because of our compete and we were stronger on the puck."
The Bruins had a goal disallowed because of goalie interference against forward Craig Smith at 16:01 of the second. Boston used a coach's challenge but the call on the ice was upheld.
"I think it's huge (to get the win)," Devils forward Kyle Palmieri said. "Going into today, we wanted to get off to a good start and we were able to do that. I thought we were back-and-forth all night but for the most part we did a good job of controlling the play and playing with a lot of pace ... something the coach has been stressing through camp. As we move forward, it's going to be huge for us to play with that pace."
NOTES:Sharangovich is the second Devils player to score his first NHL goal in overtime (Jon Merrill, Feb. 7, 2014 vs. Edmonton Oilers)… Craig Smith, who signed a three-year contract as a free agent Oct. 10, made his Bruins debut after not playing Thursday because of a lower-body injury. The forward had two shots on goal in 17:07 of ice time. … Bruins forward Ondrej Kase sustained an upper-body injury early in the second period and did not return; coach Bruce Cassidy did not have an update. ... Smith, who scored a goal Thursday, is the first Devils defenseman to score two points (one goal, one assist) in his first two NHL games since Viacheslav Fetisov (Oct. 5-7, 1989).