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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 Blow Out Canucks in Hughes Bowl III

The Devils avenged their loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago on Friday, a loss that saw two Hawks players end up completing hat tricks, by putting up a 7-spot on the Vancouver Canucks tonight. They won 7-2 over Vancouver tonight at Prudential Center.

The Devils set a franchise record with their 12th straight win over the Canucks, the most in a row they have ever had against one opponent. More impressive since these teams only meet twice a year now and did not play at all last season.

Their last meetings came in the early part of the 2019-20 season when Jack and Quinn Hughes were also had their first two meetings against each other.

Jack is now a perfect 3-0 against his brother and Quinn will be a little lighter in the wallet as well.

The brothers had just bought a house together and made a bet that the loser tonight will purchase a new paining for the house that they had wanted. The news was reported to the Vancouver media by Quinn and Erika Wachter of MSG+ said that the price of the painting is staying confidential between the two.

(Hopefully Jack is getting a little more out of his brother and their style does not skew towards “Dogs Playing Poker” or a second-hand swap meet edition of velvet Elvis.)

The Devils also snapped a five-game home losing streak – a season worst for them.

The Canucks were riding a three-game winning streak, having defeated the Rangers last night at Madison Square Garden.

The Devils made only two lineup changes from the game at Chicago. Defenseman Colton White inserted in on the blue line, paired with PK Subban and replacing Ty Smith. Smith watched from the press box along with Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros.

The other change was in goal as Nico Daws the nod tonight over Jon Gillies.

Daws recorded his third NHL victory by making 36 saves on 38 total Canucks shots for a .947 save percentage on the night. He was equal to Vancouver’s lone shorthanded shot and their only power play shot. At five-versus-five, he made 34 saves on 36 shots. The Canucks went 0-for-1 on the power play.

For the Canucks, Jaroslav Halak started and stopped just eight of the 14 total Devils shots he faced for a .571 save percentage for the game. He let in the only Devils power play shot that came his way and at even strength stopped eight of 13 shots.

After the Devils’ sixth goal, Vancouver head coach Bruce Boudreau had to go back to his number one, Thatcher Demko, to alleviate some of the bleeding.

Demko stopped 18 of the 19 shots he saw total (the Devils ended the game with 33 total shots on both Canuck goalies) for a .947 save percentage. He stopped all four power play shots he faced – the Devils ended the game with five power play shots and were 1-for-2 as a team on the man advantage. At even strength, Demko stopped 14 of New Jersey’s 15 shots.

As mentioned in a post from earlier this evening, the Devils wore special warmup jerseys designed by PK Subban to commemorate Black History Month.

The Devils played a near perfect first period as they once again jumped out to a three-goal lead.

Jack Hughes got the upper hand in his sibling rivalry when he scored 9:15 into the game unassisted.

Hughes got the puck in the Devils zone and broke in on a 2-on-1. He took the shot himself, pulling up a bit on the rush and shooting glove side on Halak, beating him just inside the near post. That made it 1-0 Devils.

Yegor Sharangovich doubled the Devils lead at the 15:24 mark of the first period when he scored.

Daws had just made a save at the other end and the Devils took the puck down towards the Vancouver end.

There, Hughes moved it down low to Dawson Mercer, who immediately found Sharangovich camped out on the doorstep. Sharangovich let go with a quick release and scored to make it 2-0.

The Devils went on their first power play of the evening at the 16:22 when Luke Schenn was called for interference against Nate Bastian.

The Devils did give up a shorthanded 2-on-1 relatively early in the man advantage when Quinn Hughes and Tyler Motte cut in with Damon Severson the lone Devil back, but Motte missed the net and the Devils were off the hook for the moment.

They would convert at 17:44 of the period when Nico Hischier connected within the Canucks zone to Jesper Bratt. Bratt found Mercer near the near-side faceoff circle and he was able to take the pass on his forehand (being a right-handed shot) and scored. It was a good passing play and made it 3-0 Devils before the first intermission.

Hischier hit the post in the last minute of the first period to narrowly miss making it 4-0.

Instead, Vancouver would get on the board just 1:36 into the second period.

The Devils were unable to clear their zone and Travis Hamonic kept it alive for the Canucks. He got it to Bo Horvat, who blasted a shot from the point. The shot was then tipped in front by Vasily Podkolzin and by Daws to make it 3-1 and potentially get the Canucks back into the game.

The Devils would respond right away, however, with three unanswered goals.

The first came less than 2:30 later at the 3:08 gone by mark when Andreas Johnsson got the puck up to Jesper Boqvist, who battled with Quinn Hughes to gain position, hustling to get in front of him and one-on-one with Halak. Halak was playing very deep in his net and Boqvist beat him to make it 4-1 Devils. Ryan Graves had the secondary assist on the goal.

Graves would then notch his own at 5:07 gone by in the second when Sharangovich won an offensive zone faceoff back to Graves at the point. Graves shot and the puck deflected in off of Schenn’s leg and past Halak to make it 5-1 Devils.

The final part of the Devils’ roughly three-minute onslaught came at the 6:19 mark of the second when Hischier dug the puck out from behind the Vancouver net and it jarred to Pavel Zacha.

Zacha dished off to Jesper Bratt at the right side of the Canucks net and he skated it just above the goal line. He then roofed a shot above Halak to score and make it 6-1 New Jersey.

It was after this goal that Halak would be pulled in favor of Demko and the Canucks would respond almost immediately.

At the 8:14 mark of the second, the Canucks made it 6-2 when JT Miller came out of the cycle in the Devils zone, passing to Brad Hunt, who was pinching down from the blue line.

Hunt quickly hit a wide-open Tanner Pearson with a pass, as Pearson was in the middle of the ice in the Devils zone. He got a clear shot off and scored putting the Canucks on the board again just before the second break.

The third period would see each team with chances early.

Zacha was stopped on a partial breakaway at the beginning of the period, but shot wide as he ended up getting the shot off in way too close to Demko.

Motte was turned aside minutes later on his own partial breakaway thanks in most part to a fantastic backchecking effort by Sharangovich.

The Devils would finally ice the game at the 11:42 gone by mark of the third when Tomas Tatar won a board battle just inside the Devils blue line. Boqvist recovered from there and skated the puck into the Vancouver zone.

He passed off to Dougie Hamilton, who was rushing up to join the play in the Canucks end. He shot and scored to make it 7-2, our final for the evening.

Hischier (two assists), Sharangovich (one goal and one assist), Mercer (one goal and one assist), Bratt (one goal and one assist), Boqvist (one goal and one assist), Jack Hughes (one goal and one assist) and Graves (one goal and one assist) each registered multi-point games for the Devils.

The Devils were outshot 38-33 and won 48-percent of the game’s faceoffs. Michael McLeod led the New Jersey centers with a 69-percent personal winning percentage.

As a team, the Devils took two penalty minutes while the Canucks took four total penalty minutes. The Devils were outhit 35 to 26 and had eight blocked shots to Vancouver’s nine. Team giveaways saw the Canucks finish with ten while the Devils doubled them up with 20.

Severson led all Devils skaters with 21:39 of total ice time (which included 3:07 on the power play and 27 seconds of shorthanded time). Graves and Jonas Siegenthaler each had 1:33 of penalty kill time to lead the defensemen in that category. Graves out of his 20:08 of total ice time while Siegenthaler totaled 21:28 of ice time and also had one second on the power play.

Ice time was spread pretty evenly. Hischier led the forwards with 17:44 of total time on ice (which included 3:09 on the power play – a high there). McLeod spent the most time on the PK amongst the forwards with 1:33 logged out of his 17:16 of total time on ice.

Hischier led in shots on goal with five. Hits were led by Bastian with seven. Graves led in blocks with two. Personal giveaways were led by Tatar and Hamilton with three apiece while personal takeaways were led by Johnsson, Hischier, Jimmy Vesey, Sharangovich, Mercer, Bratt, Jack Hughes, Tatar and Siegenthaler with one each.

Next up, the Devils will kick off March tomorrow as they travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets in a divisional matchup. Puck drop for that game is 7 PM and the game will be on ESPN+.

We will have coverage for you right here following the game tomorrow night. Until then, have a great 24 hours everyone!