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Devils Edged Out in Columbus 4-3

The Devils kicked off the new month of March by finishing up a back-to-back pair of games. They knocked off the Vancouver Canucks last night in a blowout 7-2 win at home.

Tonight, they traveled to Ohio to face Metro Divisional rivals the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Hoping to silence the cannon at Nationwide Arena, the Devils ended up getting taken out, falling narrowly to the Jackets 4-3.

The Devils went with the exact same lineup from last night in Newark. Ty Smith remained scratched with Colton White still dressed. Smith joined Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros again as healthy scratches for the Devils.

The lineup non-changes extended to the goal as Nico Daws got the back-to-back starts for the Devils, having played well last night.

He made 27 saves on 31 total Blue Jackets shots for a nightly save percentage of .871. He stopped both Columbus shorthanded shots and four of their five power play shots as the Jackets were 1-for-3 on the man advantage. At full strength, Daws made 21 saves on 24 Blue Jackets shots.

Columbus countered with Elvis Merzlikins who stopped 30 of the Devils’ 33 total shots for a .909 save percentage. He turned aside the Devils’ lone shorthanded shot and four of their five power play shots – the Devils were 1-for-4 as a team on the power play. Merzlikins had 25 saves on 27 even strength Devils shots.

The Devils got off to a flying start as Jesper Bratt, off the opening faceoff, charged towards the Columbus net and drew a tripping penalty on Vladislav Gavrikov just eight seconds into the game.

The Devils would convert right away too. Just 54 seconds into the opening period, Jack Hughes scored off of a mad scramble when the puck went behind Merzlikins. The puck was pinballing around the Columbus crease. Initially it looked like Nico Hischier or Nathan Bastian would get credit for the goal. It went to Hughes unassisted on the power play, eventually to make it 1-0 Devils.

It was as if the Devils were shot out of a cannon.

The Jackets would begin to respond following the Devils goal.

Boone Jenner shot wide on a partial breakaway moments later when Jenner stole the puck at the Columbus blue line. Yegor Sharangovich made a nice effort backchecking to break the chance up and help force Jenner’s shot wide.

Bastian and Gavin Bayreuther got into a scrap midway through the first after Bastian and Jimmy Vesey had crashed into Merzlikins’ net and the Jackets took exception. That tilt went down at the 10:58 gone by mark of the first.

Columbus would tie things while those guys were serving their five-minute fighting majors.

At the 13:08 mark, Justin Danforth laid a big hit on White deep in the Devils zone on the forecheck which began a series of events that saw the puck eventually kept in by Max Domi.

Cole Sillinger moved it to Jake Christiansen through a cross-ice seam that allowed Christiansen to score from the far faceoff circle to tie the game for the Blue Jackets and gave Christiansen his first NHL goal.

Before the end of the first period, Columbus would take the lead when, who else? Noted Devil-killer Oliver Bjorkstrand scored at 17:35 gone to make it 2-1.

Once again, the Jackets used their aggressive forecheck to keep the puck hemmed into the Devils zone. Jack Roslovic got the puck to Jakub Voracek at thet near wall. He centered to Bjorkstrand who was camped in the slot. The pass was perfectly teed up for him to launch a one-timer by Daws to give the Blue Jackets the 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

The Devils would get into some penalty trouble towards the end of the first period and the beginning of the second.

Domi took a high-sticking penalty against Dawson Mercer at the 17:39 mark of the first to give the Devils a man up. That was canceled out at the 18:47 mark when Dougie Hamilton was called for a trip against Jenner to give the teams 52 seconds of 4-on-4 until the Jackets went on the power play.

That was changed to ten seconds of a 5-on-3 and then a 5-on-4 when Damon Severson got two-minutes for slashing 38 seconds into the second frame.

Columbus capitalized 46 seconds into the second period with a goal – with one second left on the Hamilton penalty.

On that goal, the Jackets won an offensive zone faceoff and quickly moved the puck around up high. From Voracek to Patrik Laine at the far faceoff circle. He hit the post on his initial shot and Jenner was there as Johnny-on-the-spot to slide it home and make 3-1.

The Devils got that one back later on in the second when Hischier scored an amazing goal.

At the 16:00 mark of the second, Severson hit Hischier with a stretch breakout pass that he banked off of the boards to Nico from behind the Devils net.

Hischier gained the Columbus zone and shot himself as he had another Devils attacker with him. He roofed the puck off the 2-on-1 to make it 3-2 Blue Jackets.

Severson had gotten the puck off of a clean faceoff win by Michael McLeod in the Devils defensive zone. McLeod was awarded the secondary assist on the goal.

As amazing as the play that led to the Nico goal was, nothing much was going to top Laine’s goal 1:18 into the third period that put the Blue Jackets up 4-2.

Laine took a pass from Jenner in the neutral zone and used his slick hands to make a beautiful move through two Devils defenders, splitting the defense and cutting in on Daws. He finished one of the prettiest goals you will see all year – almost Mario Lemieux-esque – and Columbus had doubled their lead once again. Gabriel Carlsson had the secondary assist on the goal.

The Devils seemed to be breaking down again early in the third again when Hamilton kicked the puck up and over the glass just inside the New Jersey defensive zone.

No delay of game was called with ESPN’s “Rules Analyst” Dave Jackson explaining that the delay of game penalty only pertains to shooting the puck out of play with your stick.

In reality, it was a pretty heads up play by Hamilton by allowing the puck to clear out off of his skate. And yes, there was a distinct kicking motion.

The Devils would make things interesting from there. At the 7:07 mark of the third, New Jersey was just coming off of a power play – with Gavrikov called for tripping Tomas Tatar at 5:06 of the period.

The Devils had numbers coming into the Columbus zone after Mercer was able to corral a loose puck just before the Blue Jackets blue line.

Sharangovich kind barreled towards Merzlikins’ net, giving space to Pavel Zacha, who took a feed from Mercer. Zacha was trailing and scored. Hamilton got the secondary and the Devils had cut the lead to 4-3.

Head coach Lindy Ruff would pull Daws with just over two-minutes to go in regulation for the sixth attacker.

When Gavrikov was called for high-sticking Mercer with less than a minute to go in the game, putting the Devils on the power play to finish the game, the Devils kept Daws out and were up two men.

But the Devils could not even the score. They kept the Jackets from scoring into the empty net, despite Columbus having a shooting gallery while killing Gavrikov’s penalty, but the Blue Jackets got the full two points out of the game.

The Devils outshot Columbus 33-31 but won only 41-percent of the game’s faceoffs. McLeod led all Devils regular centers with a 50-percent personal winning clip in the faceoff circle.

As a team, the Devils took 11 penalty minutes while the Blue Jackets accumulated 13. The Devils were badly out played physically, being outhit by a margin of 30 to five for the game. Columbus also had 24 blocked shots to the Devils’ six. Each team only had one team giveaway.

In terms of ice time, Severson led all Devils skaters with 23:27 of total ice time logged – which included 3:37 of power play time (which led the defensemen) and 2:34 of shorthanded time. Ryan Graves led in PK time with 3:32 on the penalty kill out of his 21:35 of total time.

Hughes led the forwards with 22:56 of total ice time (which included 3:37 of power play time and one second pf shorthanded time). Special teams-wise, Bastian led the forwards with 3:41 of power play time out of his 13:19 of total TOI. McLeod led the forwards in shorthanded time with 2:50 out of his 13:42 of total ice time for the night.

Hughes led in shots on goal with five. Hits were led by Andreas Johnsson, Bastian, Sharangovich, Tatar and White who each had one. Graves led in blocks with two. Personal giveaways were led by Sharangovich with one and personal takeaways by Jimmy Vesey with one.

Next up, the Devils come back east and travel to Manhattan to take on their arch-rival New York Rangers on Friday.

Puck drop for that one is 7 PM and the Devils television feed will be shown on MSG+. We will have coverage for that rivalry game for you following the conclusion on Friday.

See you then and enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

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Devils Bounce Back with Blowout Win in Montreal

The Devils needed this in the biggest way possible. Sure, it came against a team struggling arguably worse than they are, but it did snap their seven-game winless streak.

On the backend of a back-to-back against the Montreal Canadiens, the Devils finally got the monkey off their collective backs by winning 7-1 over the Habs at Bell Centre.

Something was going to break tonight as the Devils had lost seven straight while the Canadiens had dropped their last six games.

Following their 4-1 loss at Ottawa last night, some changes were in order to the lineup tonight. The main move, strangely enough, was slotting Mason Geertsen in for Janne Kuokkanen. Kuokkanen sat out with Marian Studenic and Christian Jaros while Geertsen played largely on the left-wing on a line centered by Michael McLeod with Nathan Bastian on the right-wing.

In goal, the Devils went with a little more “experience” tonight. Jon Gillies got the start and made 30 saves on 31 total Montreal shots for a .968 save percentage on the night in what was a stellar performance. He stopped 23 of the Habs’ 24 shots at five-versus-five and all seven of their power play shots. The Canadiens were kept 0-for-3 on the power play for the night.

Gillies also debuted a new, Devils-influenced mask tonight to take the place of his placeholder brought over from St. Louis.

The Canadiens started Cayden Primeau, who was equal to 27 of the Devils’ 34 total shots. He finished with a .794 save percentage on the night while stopping all three of the Devils’ three shorthanded chances, 24 of their 30 even strength chances and let in their one power play shot. The Devils ended the night at 50-percent on the power play, going 1-for-2 on their opportunities.

Tomas Tatar was making his return as a player to Montreal for the first time since leaving last summer as a free agent. Although he was a healthy scratch through most of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoff run that saw the Habs get to the Final – where they ultimately fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning – he was still looking forward to coming back to Bell Centre.

There were, however, no fans in attendance to witness it as Montreal is in the midst of city-wide COVID protocols that are restricting public gatherings. The Canadiens are not going to have fans in attendance through at least the rest of February.

What Habs fans missed was the Devils’ first road victory in more than a month. Also, this was the Devils’ first visit to Bell Centre since (American) Thanksgiving Night in 2019. For reference, Blake Coleman scored for New Jersey that night with Taylor Hall in the lineup as well.

The Devils needed to get going early and often if things were going to break in their favor tonight. And that things did.

Just 4:36 into the game, right after Ryan Graves had hit the crossbar, the Devils were able to keep the puck moving in the Montreal zone. Colton White recovered and passed back to Graves at the point, setting Graves up for a one-timer. Graves bombed his shot towards the Montreal net where Michael McLeod had fought to gain position. He got to the rebound and deposited his first goal since January 22 behind Primeau to make it 1-0 Devils.

McLeod’s last goal, coincidentally, came in the Devils’ 7-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, their last win of any kind.

Gillies showed that he was on late in the first period when he stopped the Canadiens on a 3-on-1 odd man rush.

That was followed up by Dawson Mercer scoring his first goal in 15 games at the 15:31 mark of the first.

Ty Smith hit Jesper Boqvist with a breakout pass and Boqvist, after gaining the Montreal blue line, dished to Mercer, who had gotten behind the Canadiens’ defense. He cut behind and scored. This was Mercer’s first goal of the 2022 calendar year and put the Devils up 2-0 going into the first intermission.

The Devils did falter a bit in the beginning of the second period beginning about 2:30 in when Montreal batted a puck down and through the Devils crease. The puck did not go in, but came within a sliver of cutting the Devils lead in half.

The Habs came close then and would break through at 5:54 gone by in the second when Ryan Poehling seemingly redirected a shot by Brett Kulak past Gillies with Joel Armia getting the secondary assist.

That was changed minutes later to Brett Kulak getting credited with the goal as it went in straight off of his shot. Armia now had the primary assist and Poehling, who had fed Armia initially, got the secondary assist.

Montreal had gotten on the board and things were starting to look competitive. Primeau stopped Jesper Bratt moments after the Canadiens goal on a partial breakaway.

From then on was when things turned.

The Devils would go on to score five straight unanswered from there.

The onslaught started 9:14 into the second period when Nico Hischier scored just moments after New Jersey killed off a Nate Bastian tripping penalty.

On this goal, Yegor Sharangovich was hit with a breakout pass and skated the puck through the neutral zone. Once he gained the Montreal zone, he passed over to Mercer, who was able to find a seam cross-ice to Hischier on the left-wing side and Nico finished to make it 3-1.

Hischier had now notched two goals in two games in two nights.

The Devils would add two more within the final two minutes of the second period as well.

At 18:53 gone by, an Andreas Johnsson redirect was kept in the Montreal zone by the Devils after going wide of the Canadiens net. New Jersey was able to work the puck back to Damon Severson at the point. Severson dished to Boqvist, who got a shot off with Johnsson back in front providing a screen. Boqvist’s shot went in, beating Primeau cleanly to make it 4-1.

Within 47 seconds, McLeod would have his second of the night and the Devils would have a 5-1 lead.

McLeod won an o-zone draw for the Devils and then immediately went to the front of the Montreal net. Geertsen nudged the puck towards the secondary assist (Ty Smith) at the far wall. Smith sent it to Ryan Graves at the point. Graves took a booming shot that saw a rebound pop out to McLeod, who was stationed in front of the Habs’ net and fought to get to the puck to put it behind Primeau.

The Devils now had a four-game lead for the first time since November 11, 2021 (a 4-0 victory over the Islanders) and their third of the season. The other was the night before that Isles game on November 9, 2021 when they defeated the Florida Panthers 7-3. And they would not let up in the third period tonight either.

Just 3:02 into the final frame, Montreal was put on the penalty kill when Jeff Petry was called for interfering with Boqvist.

With the Devils up a man at 3:19 gone by in the third, Severson got the puck from Bratt at the point, able to distribute to Pavel Zacha at the top of the right faceoff circle. Zacha took a slight step towards the middle of the ice and wristed a shot over Primeau’s glove hand to make it 6-1.

The Devils’ power play now had two goals in two games as well as they seem to be getting things going a little bit in putting up the touchdown on the Canadiens.

The extra point was tacked on at the 9:57 mark of the third period when Tomas Tatar, making his return to the city of Montreal, put the Devils in the lead 7-1.

This one saw Zacha intercept a reverse around the boards in the Montreal zone. He got it on the forecheck behind Primeau’s net and centered to Tatar on the doorstep. Tatar deposited it behind the Habs’ netminder for his first goal in 12 games.

Once time ran down and the final siren went off at Bell Centre, the Devils had put up seven tallies, equaling their season high output this season (the aforementioned 7-3 win over Florida on November 9 and their last win before tonight – the 7-4 win over the Hurricanes at home on January 22, 2022. This was the first time that they had done this on the road this season.

It was also Gillies’ second win in a Devils’ uniform and a more complete performance for him and the team, who finished chances and gave him a lot more goal support tonight.

As a team, the Devils outshot Montreal 34-31 and won 51-percent of the game’s faceoffs. It was Zacha who led the Devils centers with his faceoff winning percentage at a 71-percent personal clip.

The Devils took six total penalty minutes while the Canadiens took four. The Devils were still outplayed physically even with Geertsen back in the lineup, being outhit 21 to 11. New Jersey had 15 blocked shots to the Habs’ eight and 18 team giveaways to Montreal’s nine.

In all, 13 different Devils recorded at least a point on the night with seven notching two points. Mercer had a goal and an assist, McLeod had his second career two-goal NHL game, Boqvist recorded a goal and an assist, Smith had two assists as did Severson and Graves.

In ice time recorded, Jonas Siegenthaler logged the most total time with 22:29 (including 4:17 on the penalty kill). Smith had the most power play time amongst defensemen with 1:10 out of his 19:42 of total ice time.

For the forwards, McLeod led in total ice time with 16:37 logged (which included 3:17 of PK time to lead in shorthanded time on ice as well). Johnsson (who had 15:42 of total ice time), Sharangovich (who logged 15:54 of total ice time), Mercer (16:03 of total ice time) and Tatar (14:26 of total ice time) all led in power play time among the forwards with 1:10 on the man advantage.

Graves led in shots on goal with five. Geertsen registered four hits to lead in that category. Blocks were led by Colton White with four. Personal giveaways were led by White with three while personal Bratt and Boqvist led in personal takeaways with one each.

And with that, the Devils will play their next game on Thursday when they travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues. The Blues have not played since late January – before the All-Star break – so they, in theory should be pretty well rested and pose a challenge for the Devils.

That game will begin at 8 PM ET and is penciled in to be broadcast on MSG+ 2. We will have coverage for you right here following the conclusion of that contest.

Until then, savor tonight’s win and we will see you later in the week as the Devils are back in action!