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Devils Bounce Back with Win Over Blue Jackets at Home

The Devils returned home from their loss in Boston that snapped a three-game winning streak to face a team that they have had some trouble with in recent years: the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It was the Devils’ first home game of the 2022 calendar year and they got the victory over a Metropolitan Division foe, 3-1.

The Devils were fortunate to have Nico Hischier back in the lineup as he missed Tuesday’s game in Boston with a lower body injury. He told head coach Lindy Ruff (who was also back from his stint in COVID Protocol) that it is something he could work with and push through on his own.

Jimmy Vesey also returned from COVID Protocol tonight.

The team did, however, subtract Andreas Johnsson from the lineup for the first time this season, as he was placed into COVID Protocol along with Pavel Zacha and Yegor Sharangovich, who were already in protocols.

Add Jon Gillies and Mason Geertsen as healthy scratches and the lineup saw the addition of Nolan Foote, making his season debut for the big club, from the Taxi Squad. Christian Jaros was also playing on defense, the first time this season that he has gotten into consecutive games.

Mackenzie Blackwood got the nod between the pipes again tonight as the Devils has said that he is “the man” right now so to speak. He made 31 saves on 32 total Columbus shots for a .969 save percentage on the night. He had a strong game as he turned aside the Jackets’ two shorthanded shots and all five of their power play shots. He got 24 of their 25 shots at even strength.

Columbus was held 0-for-4 on the power play.

For the Jackets, Joonas Korpisalo was in the crease and made 25 saves on the 27 total shots he saw for a .926 save percentage. He was equal to two of the three Devils’ power play shots he was peppered with (the Devils finished 1-for-3 on the man advantage) and got 23 of the Devils’ 24 shots at five-against-five. The Devils finished with 28 total shots on goal with an empty net goal later on.

Some other notes saw Jesper Boqvist playing his second NHL game against his younger brother Adam Boqvist – who is now with Columbus. They previously faced each other when Adam was a Chicago Blackhawk, a game that Jesper got injured in.

The Jackets’ Jakub Voracek was playing in his 1,000th NHL game tonight with the team that drafted him originally. Congrats to him.

And finally, the Devils were playing their third game overall (and second home game) in their black third jerseys.

This was the opener of a home-and-home series against the Blue Jackets and the Devils wanted to get off on the right foot.

And they would do just that when Tomas Tatar scored just 51 seconds into the game. Jack Hughes battled for a puck off of a faceoff deep in the Columbus zone, a partial win for him, that he was able to get to Jesper Bratt, who was jumping in to support.

Bratt quickly got it to a wide-open Tatar, who walked in on the doorstep with time and drew Korpisalo down, then roofed it over the Columbus goalie to make it 1-0 Devils.

The assist for Hughes continued his point streak as it now stands at five games.

The Devils would have that lead for a little over four minutes until Max Domi tied it at 4:54 gone by. On this one, Vladislav Gavrikov fluttered a shot in on Blackwood from the point. Blackwood had trouble handling the shot and Domi followed it in and was all alone to put the puck in when Blackwood bobbled it. Cole Sillinger had the secondary assist on the goal that got us right back where we started, tied.

For those keeping track of the unofficial stat of Devils taking pucks to the face: late in the first period, Janne Kuokkanen got a Damon Severson clearing attempt to the face and left down the tunnel. He would return for the Devils for the second period.

If the first period belonged to Blackwood, with the Blue Jackets outshooting the Devils 18-5 in that frame, then the second was all Korpisalo.

The Devils threw 12 shots towards the Columbus goaltender and he was equal to all of them. The Jackets mustered only seven shots in the middle frame by comparison, so Korpisalo needed to be big for them.

Of course, he got some help. Midway through the second, Dawson Mercer hit the post on a shot off of the rush. Ryan Graves followed up with a chance and missed the net all together. Patrik Laine would return the favor a few minutes later when he hit the post on a clear-cut chance as well.

New Jersey would break through finally in the third, just 1:16 into the new period, when they scored on the power play.

It was set up by Garikov taking a holding penalty against Nate Bastian 54 seconds into the third. Just 22 seconds into penalty time, Hughes and Bratt teamed up to give the Devils back the lead.

The two played give-and-go through the neutral zone. Once in the Columbus zone, Hughes tried to chip the puck up the wall to Bastian, but caught up to the puck himself, got it back and passed to Bratt in front. Bratt finished for his first power play goal of the season and his eighth point in five games. Bratt also became the first Devil to double digit goals this season with ten. Bastian was awarded the secondary assist on the goal that made it 2-1 Devils.

It was a dynamic goal and fully created by Hughes’ speed and skating and Bratt’s finishing.

Mercer would get another chance late on a partial breakaway as he cut in behind the Columbus defense, made a beautiful move to his backhand and tried to go over top of Korpisalo, but ended up hitting the post.

Instead, the Jackets got the chance to pull Korpisalo with about 1:45 left in regulation for the extra attacker.

At the 18:40 mark, Hughes would make it a three-point night when he scored into the empty net vacated by Korpisalo. Graves made a huge block in the Devils zone, well-timed on a shot and it got to Tatar. He got it to Hughes, who skated it just outside the Devils zone and threw it down the length of the rink and into the empty net to ice the game.

The Blue Jackets pulled Korpisalo again with about a minute to go in the game and Michael McLeod ended up being denied on an empty net chance. However, the final horn sounded and we had our final of 3-1.

The Devils were outshot 32 to 28 by Columbus. Each team split the game’s faceoffs at 50-percent each. McLeod was back to leading Devils centers with a 53-percent winning percentage personally. The Devils had eight team penalty minutes to the Blue Jackets’ six. New Jersey outhit the Jackets 11-6 and also had 11 blocked shots to the Jackets’ six. As a team, the Devils had 11 giveaways to Columbus’ two.

Time on ice saw Severson lead the Devils with 26:38 (including 2:13 on the power play and 3:53 killing penalties) as he, Jonas Siegenthaler and Graves will be getting more and more minutes with Hamilton out for the time being.

Hughes led the forwards with 19:00 logged (including 2:44 on the PP). McLeod led the forwards in PK time with 5:25 spread over his 13:57 of total ice time.

Three Devils logged multi-point nights: Tatar (one goal, one assist for two points), Bratt (one goal and one assist for two points) and Hughes (a goal and two assists for three points). Hughes had his third three-point game of the season tonight.

Graves led in shots on goal with five. Bastian led in hits with four. Tatar and Graves led in blocked shots with two apiece. McLeod and PK Subban each had two giveaways to lead there while Vesey had six takeaways to lead in that category – three more than Severson, who had the next most at three.

Next up, the Devils will travel to Ohio to finish the home-and-home with the Blue Jackets at 7 PM on Saturday. That game will air on MSG+. Be with us as the Devils try to silence those cannons and sweep two from the Blue Jackets.

Coverage will be here immediately following that game on Saturday night. Until then, have a great (and safe, depending on how the weather turns out) Friday everyone!

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Devils Fall in Halloween Shootout to Blue Jackets

So, my older nephew woke up sick this morning, so Halloween was canceled. Instead, I get to write up my game report on Devils-Blue Jackets earlier than expected.

The Devils went to their first shootout of the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets and fell 4-3. They do pick up the point in-division, though.

Happy Halloween everyone! This afternoon tilt was the first time the Devils had played on the holiday since 2015 – a 3-2 shootout win over the New York Islanders at Prudential Center, for those wondering. In the present day, this is the quickest turnaround the Devils will face this year, having played at 7 PM in Pittsburgh last night, and at 5 PM in Newark today. That’s 22 hours between games. This was the first of 13 back-to-backs the Devils will have this season as well.

For the record, the Devils were 6-4-1 on Halloween coming into today.

And speaking of last night’s victory over the Penguins, Andreas Johnsson’s two goals in that game was his first multi-goal game as a Devil. Also, the 40 shots the Devils peppered Tristan Jarry with was their season high for the year. They ended up with 39 tonight (including overtime) so that remains.

The only change to the lineup was in goal for the Devils. Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros remained the Devils’ healthy scratches. Steve Cangialosi mentioned on the broadcast of the game that he asked head coach Lindy Ruff if he considered dressing seven defensemen in order to take the load off of the defense on the penalty kill. He said no and reasoned that the Devils were rolling four lines in Pittsburgh on Saturday and he did not want to take from that.

With the quick turnaround, New Jersey went back to Scott Wedgewood in nets. He made 23 saves on 26 total Columbus shots for an .885 save percentage. He stopped two of the Jackets’ three power play shots (the Blue Jackets were 1-for-2 on the power play) and 21-for-24 at even strength.

Columbus went with Joonas Korpisalo in goal and he was equal to 36 of the Devils’ 39 shots for a .923 save percentage. He got 35 of their 38 shots at even strength and all four of the Devils’ power play shots. The Devils ended up 0-for-3 on the power play.

In a fun note mentioned by play-by-play man Steve Cangialosi on MSG+, today was the Devils’ 3,000th game since arriving in New Jersey in 1982. October 5, 1982 was the first – a 3-3 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Meadowlands.

This was the first meeting between these teams, however, since February of 2020-20 days before the 2019-20 season was ended due to the COVID pandemic. The Blue Jackets were in the Central Division last season, so the Devils did not face them last year.

Also, the Blue Jackets were dressing Eric Robinson, a forward and a native of Belmar, New Jersey.

The Devils kept the momentum from last night going by scoring the first goal of the game just 1:07 in. It came off of the stick of, who else? Andreas Johnsson – his third goal of the weekend.

PK Subban put the puck down low and Jesper Bratt got it behind the Columbus net. Bratt made a forehand pass Johnsson at the far faceoff circle. Johnsson was able to set and shot upstairs shortside to make it 1-0 Devils. This goal came off of the second shot of the game for New Jersey.

Columbus would tie things at the 11:55 mark of the first when Devils-killer Oliver Bjorkstrand tied it. The Danish exorcist scored on the power play as Dawson Mercer was off serving a tripping penalty against Zach Werenski.

Patrik Laine got the puck down low to Jakub Voracek, who skated back up high towards the blue line and passed cross-ice to Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstand stepped up and shot through Boone Jenner in front of the net as a screen. The puck went in and the game was tied up at one.

Before the end of the frame, the Jackets would grab their first lead of the afternoon, however. It came at 14:54 of the first when Columbus had numbers going the other way on the Devils. Voracek fed Laine, who was streaking up the left side. He took the pass and fired a bomb that went in and out under the crossbar. It seemed like the shot had hit the crossbar, but the call on the ice was the correct one, it was a goal and the Jackets had a 2-1 lead going into the second period.

The second would see the Devils retake the lead.

The climb began when Mercer scored 8:37 into the new period. Just after the Devils had killed off a Jonas Siegenthaler holding penalty, Siegenthaler came out of the box and negated a Devils’ icing in the Columbus zone. The Jackets tried to clear, but PK Subban kept it in at the blue line and threw it back in. Mercer got it behind Korpisalo’s net and cut back in front, stuffing it in behind the Columbus netminder to it the game at two.

A little over a minute later at the 9:54 mark, Dougie Hamilton gave the Devils back the lead.

Pavel Zacha took the puck at the end boards in the Jackets’ zone, passing from the corner to Nico Hischier, who was also at the end boards, on the other side of the Columbus net. He fed a pass to Hamilton, who was at the far faceoff dot. Hamilton blasted a shot that beat Korpisalo to make it 3-2 Devils.

But that was it as far as Devils scoring would go on the afternoon.

The Devils played a great third period largely, but Columbus would tie the game at three at the 14:35 mark anyway.

It was then that Ty Smith tried to flip the puck out of the Devils’ zone when he had time. He could have run it up the boards or even gone D-to_D with Damon Severson. Instead, he rushed and tried to flip the puck over the blue line. Jenner intercepted it, knocking it down and skating in with a Devils defender all over him. He made a nice individual effort to fight through the check and get a shot off as he was falling to the ice. The shot beat Wedgewood to tie the game at three apiece.

The Devils would have chances. At the 16:27, Vladislav Gavrikov was called for cross checking Johnsson to put the Devils on the power play. That was improved to a 5-on-3 when Scott Harrington was nabbed for high-sticking Mercer at 17:53.

The Devils would have 33 seconds of 5-on-3 to retake the lead, but Columbus did a good job of killing it, including generating a shorthanded 2-on-1 that Wedgewood stopped.

When the Jackets ended the Devils power play bid, we were off to OT. This was the third overtime game for both teams, with both going in 2-0 in the extra frame.

Despite a tremendous showing by the Devils and Bjorkstrand hitting the post for Columbus late, neither team could break through. The Devils would then play their first shootout of the season.

Jesper Bratt was first up, but Korpisalo stopped him as he tried to shoot five-hole. Bjorkstrand rounded out the first round and shot wide of the net.

In the second round, Dougie Hamilton shot for New Jersey and was stopped. Laine went for the Jackets and his shot missed the net as well.

In the third round, Dawson Mercer was up for the Devils – his first NHL shootout try – and Korpisalo made a pad save on him. Voracek went for Columbus and scored, getting the Blue Jackets the full two points on the afternoon and spoiling the Devils’ homecoming.

The Devils are now 4-2-1 with a 1-1-1 record within the Metropolitan Division.

New Jersey outshot Columbus 39-26 and won 45-percent of the game’s faceoffs as a team, with Nico HIschier winning 60-percent of his personal draws to lead the Devils forwards.

Columbus had more team penalty minutes at six to the Devils’ four. They also outhit the Devils 14-12. Both teams logged 19 blocked shots and the Devils ended up with more giveaways at 11 to Columbus’ eight. Yegor Sharangovich led the Devils in that dubious category with four.

Hamilton played the most minutes with 26:35 logged, including 3:21 on the power play and 38 seconds on the penalty kill. Hischier led the forwards with 19:41 logged (includes 3:21 on the power play and 1:29 of PK time).

Subban led in points with two (both assists) while Hamilton led in shots on goal with a whopping ten. Ryan Graves led in hits with three while Hamilton also led in blocked shots with four. Takeaways were led by Zacha with three.

Next up, the Devils begin their first real road trip of the season when they travel out west to California. They will play on Tuesday, November 2 at the Anaheim Ducks. That game is at 10 PM and will air exclusively on ESPN+. I will be watching and will try to get a post up in a timely fashion.

And before we go, I would be remiss if I did not mention that former NHLer Tie Domi was in attendance at Prudential Center to watch his son Max play for the Blue Jackets today. MSG+ showed him and his Montreal Expos cap on the broadcast, which I just though was cool enough to warrant a mention here. The Expos cap, not necessarily Tie’s presence.

Until then, Happy Halloween everyone!