Welcome back, hockey fans! Following the holiday break, the Columbus Blue Jackets returned to action as they went on the road to take on the New Jersey Devils.
After the break, the Jackets made a few lineup changes: Damon Severson returned to the lineup following recovery from his injury, Brendon Gaunce entered the lineup for the injured Sean Kuraly, and Mathieu Olivier returned to the lineup.
Elvis Merzlikins got the start in net. Here’s what happened.
First Period
The Jackets opened the period on the front foot and were rewarded with the game’s opening goal. The 4th line had an excellent shift that led to Jake Bean stepping into a rebound following a Brendon Gaunce attempt and the Jackets opened the scoring.
Columbus goal (1-0): Bean from Gaunce and Texier, 6:39
Following the goal, the Jackets earned a power play as Ondrej Palat was boxed for hooking, but the Jackets did not capitalize. Seconds after killing it, the Devils equalized – following a rush up the ice, some nifty passing left Palat all alone in front of Merzlikins, who could not stop the point blank attempt.
New Jersey goal (1-1): Palat from Haula and Mercer, 9:55
The Devils appeared to regain control of the balance of play for much of the remainder of the first period, but the Jackets were able to escape to intermission tied 1-1 with the Devils. Shots favored New Jersey 9-8, hits favored Columbus 9-6.
Second Period
The Devils opened the second period on the front foot, but the Jackets kept the game tied at one thanks to a series of spectacular saves from Elvis Merzlikins, including an absolute robbery of Dawson Mercer.
Six minutes into the second, Adam Fantilli went hard to the net and was taken down by Devils goalie Vitek Vanacek before skating carefully to the bench. He looked for a call, but none came. Fantilli was no worse for the wear through – after a long shift in the offensive zone by his line, Fantilli gathered the puck in the slot and found David Jiricek at the blue line. Jiricek let a shot go that Justin Danforth tipped past Vanacek to restore the lead for Columbus.
Columbus goal (2-1): Danforth from Jiricek and Fantilli, 8:28
Seconds later, Cole Sillinger was absolutely robbed on the doorstep as Vanacek gathered his shot in glove. With 10:58 remaining in the period, Zach Werenski was tripped up by a Devils player and twisted his leg on the way down. Werenski was helped to the locker room by the training staff and it looked like Werenski was in immense agony. Awful scene.
Late in the second, Elvis made an outstanding save on Michael McLeod on a breakaway to keep the Jackets up 2-1. With 3:36 remaining, the Devils earned their first power play as Sillinger was boxed for interference – a really dumb play by Sillinger, there was no need to do that behind the play.
Justin Danforth was denied on a shorthanded chance, the closest chance for either team on special teams. After 40 minutes, the Jackets led 2-1 on the scoreboard and 19-18 on shots on goal.
Third Period
After starting the third with a man advantage, the penalty was negated after 56 seconds as Chinakhov was penalized for high sticking. The Jackets killed the brief Devils power play and immediately returned to the man advantage as Luke Hughes was boxed for hooking. The Jackets, however, had no luck. The Jackets played the fist 10 minutes well – could they see out the win?
With 6:48 to go, the Devils earned another power play, but strong defensive play by Gudbranson and Danforth coupled with several strong saves from Merzlikins kept the Devils at bay. The Jackets could not hold, however, as the Devils pressed after the power play ended and Dawson Mercer ripped a one timer past Merzlikins to tie the game.
New Jersey goal (2-2): Mercer from Nemec,15:51
With 2:26 to go, Yeager Chinakhov made amends for a penalty he took earlier – Jonas Siegenthaler fanned on a pass and Chinakhov poked it forward and through the five hole of Vanacek to restore the Jackets’ lead late.
Columbus goal (3-2): Chinakhov, unassisted, 17:34
With 1:25 to go, the Devils equalized again. Luke Hughes carried the puck coast to coast through Gudbranson and Provorov to tie the game.
New Jersey goal (3-3): Hughes from Hughes, 18:35
Bonus Hockey
Fantilli, Jiricek, Marchenko, and Voronkov never saw the ice in 3+ minutes of overtime as Timo Meier scored on a breakaway to win it for the Devils.
Terrible coaching from the Blue Jackets late.
Final
Columbus Blue Jackets 4 New Jersey Devils 3
Final Thoughts
Alexandre Texier now has 1-3-4 in his last five games.
Stick taps to Damon Severson on his return to New Jersey.
As talked about on the pod last week, the Jackets once again got countered and gave up a goal shortly after giving up one of their own. This time, in the first period, 3:16 after scoring. The inability of the Jackets to continually fail to build on momentum from scoring goals is increasingly frustrating as it has not yet been addressed. It happened again late as the Devils countered the Jackets’ go ahead goal to force overtime. Unacceptable.
Justin Danforth played a great game in all three phases and was tremendously active.
Best wishes to Zach Werenski after what looked like a scary injury – at the time of this writing, the team has no update other than he did not return to tonight’s game with a lower body injury. Werenski has been snake bitten with injuries throughout his career – multiple shoulders, an orbital bone, and now his leg that was rolled up on following a solid defensive play. Best wishes to Werenski, and hopefully it’s a short term injury but it did not look good in real time.
Terrible defense from the Jackets late in this game – Provorov and Gudbranson literally skated toward the dots and didn’t take away the puck headed to the middle of the ice for the tying goal. Unreal terrible, low hockey IQ play.
Fantilli never played in OT. Unacceptable.
Up Next
The Columbus Blue Jackets return home to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night in Nationwide Arena. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET.