The New Jersey Devils (50-21-8) came into Thursday night’s game looking for a strong win against a basement-dwelling Columbus Blue Jackets squad. They exceeded that expectation by a country mile, ambushing the Jackets with eight goals. The Devils have owned Columbus this season in Newark via a combined score of 15-2 over their last two matchups in New Jersey.
Game Summary
First Period
Strangely, the Devils got out to a relatively slow start considering the matchup. They had plenty of possession but committed a few sloppy passes to squander a few chances. That slow start didn’t last long, as Tomas Tatar opened the scoring a few minutes in, or so he thought. It turned out he was offside, so the call was overturned.
No problem, because Jack Hughes actually drew first blood a few minutes later at the 11:35 mark. He played the puck up the ice and created a two-on-one with Michael McLeod, who had just come out of the penalty box, and sniped it past Michael Hutchinson.
Soon after that, Miles Wood committed a bone-headed roughing penalty in front of Columbus’ net, but nothing came of the ensuing power play. At the 5:03 mark, Josh Dunne shot one on Vitek Vanecek and immediately came crashing into him, pushing the puck over the line and causing the net to be dislodged. After a video review, it was determined that there was no goal on the play.
Second Period
Tomas Tatar actually got on the scoreboard a minute into the second frame with a great solo effort, muscling off a defender to get to the front of the net and sticking it past Hutchinson to make it 2-0.
Jack Hughes struck again a minute later, scoring off a great tic-tac-toe play that saw Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, and Hughes team up.
Joonas Luoto scored Columbus’ only goal of the night on a mad net-front scramble. He came hard into Vitek Vanecek and appeared to make contact with his stick. Head coach Lindy Ruff challenged the play and lost, giving Columbus their first goal and their fourth man advantage of the night.
At the 16:16 mark, Jack Hughes slid through the Blue Jackets’ defense to set up Timo Meier for a sharp-angle shot, which he executed beautifully to put the Devils up 4-1.
Third Period
The score was only 4-1 going into the third period, but the Devils quickly blew the game open. Erik Haula scored New Jersey’s fifth goal just two minutes in, ripping the puck past Hutchinson from the far circle with assists coming from Jesper Boqvist and John Marino. Columbus coach Brad Larsen elected to pull Hutchinson in favor of former Devil John Gillies after the fifth goal.
Timo Meier scored his second of the night soon after, scoring off yet another beautiful play by Jack Hughes, who stripped the puck from Joonas Luoto, played it through his legs, passed it to Marino, who dished it to a wide-open Meier in the slot.
Damon Severson scored the Devils’ seventh of the night at the 6:36 mark, marching in with Erik Haula and Dawson Mercer on a three-on-one, giving Gillies no chance to make a save. Oh, and they did this short-handed.
Finally, Ryan Graves notched the Devils’ eighth tally halfway through the period, receiving the puck from Michael McLeod in the slot and capitalizing on a battered Gillies.
Results
Last night was a beatdown, a complete embarrassment of a lowly Jackets team. It was the Devils’ second-consecutive game where they put the absolute hammer down on their opponent. Now, they’ll look to win against some real competition in the Boston Bruins tomorrow.
The Devils now own a shining record of 50-21-8 and sit one point back on the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes with 108, though the Canes have two games in hand. The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, are 24-46-8 and sit dead last in the Metro.
Game Notes
Too Many Milestones to Count!
As the clock winds down on the Devils’ most successful season in a long, long time, there are almost too many records to keep track of. Hughes scored two goals and two assists, putting him at 95 points on the year. This gives him sole possession of second place on the all-time Devils leaderboard for points in a season, one behind Patrik Elias. He’ll need just two points in his last three games to surpass him.
Ryan Graves played his 300th career game last night, scoring the Devils’ eighth goal.
Dougie Hamilton didn’t notch a point, but he’s five points away from passing Scott Stevens on the points in a season by a defenseman leaderboard. He already has the most goals by a defenseman in a single season in Devils history with 21.
Finally, the team as a whole is just one win away from tying the franchise record for wins in a season. Right now, they have 50 wins, the most since that record-setting season in 2008-09 where they tallied 51 wins.
Up Next
The Devils will face the President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins tomorrow in Boston in a prime-time 8:00 PM EST matchup.