Columbus Blue Jackets Outworked by New Jersey Devils
The Columbus Blue Jackets were beaten up and down the ice Tuesday night by the New Jersey Devils. The Devils defeated the Blue Jackets 4-1.
Awful. Gross. Disappointing. Those are just a few words going through my head as I left Nationwide Arena after the Columbus Blue Jackets’ game Tuesday night. I thought the Jackets would be ready to play and lockdown the lead in the Metropolitan Division, but I was wrong.
It was the New Jersey Devils who came out on fire and ready to play. The Devils needed to prove their previous loss, a 5-0 shutout at the hands of the Arizona Coyotes, was a complete fluke.
And prove they did.
Less than five minutes into the first period, the Devils’ Travis Zajac scored his first goal of the season. A couple of Jackets attempted to swat the puck away from the right side of Sergei Bobrovsky but Zajac found it first.
The Blue Jackets’ scored in the middle of the first, just after their first power play opportunity had ended. Oliver Bjorkstrand took a nice shot from the top of the left circle, but Nick Foligno would get a piece of the puck to get credit for the goal.
At 4:47 of the second period, the Devils’ Taylor Hall found the back of the net on a strong team push down the ice. The Jackets defense broke down in front of Bobrovsky. Devils’ rookie Nico Hischier slid a great pass across the crease to Hall and all he had to do was tip it in.
The Devils dominated play and scored two more 5 on 5 goals to finish off the Blue Jackets.
113. 4. 85. Final. 1
My Take and Looking Forward
I hate to beat a dead horse, but the Columbus Blue Jackets need to find their power play very soon. In Tuesday’s game, they went 0 for 6 and had a two-man advantage to end the game. The current power play is completely unacceptable.
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The Jackets did manage to throw 42 shots on goal, but too many of them were taken far away from the net. The Devils had a number of chances very close to Bobrovsky, and they capitalized on them. It seems the defense may also be a little out of sorts without their normal third pair of Markus Nutivaara and Ryan Murray.
The Jackets next game is Friday night against the same New Jersey Devils. This time, we will be playing the role of the visitor and hopefully also the victor.