Twitter: Rob DeLuca

Game Summary

The New Jersey Devils winless streak has now been extended to seven games (0-5-2), following a 3-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday evening. The game started off quiet as most games do in the opening minutes. The Blue Jackets then took two penalties five minutes into the first period. The Devils did not take advantage of either power play and the game remained scoreless for the rest of the period. Besides a beautiful glove save by Cory Schneider on William Karlsson towards the end of the period, the first was rather uneventful.

The second period is where the Blue Jackets took over the scoring and game. It only took two minutes and 45 seconds for Columbus to strike as Boone Jenner sent home his 13th of the season and give his team the 1-0 lead. Less than three minutes later, Oliver Bjorkstrand showed off some stick handling skills to get around the Devils defense, and then beat Schneider high-glove side. It was his third of the year, which made the score 2-0.

This turned out to be a really tough game for the Devils, especially because they were missing Andy Greene (Personal), Damon Severson and Miles Wood (banged up, day-to-day). The energy was just not there and they looked tired, partly because they just played in Boston on Saturday. Forward Sam Ganger scored on a rebound just a little under nine minutes in the third to seal the deal, and complete the goal scoring at 3-0.

Ten Devils players at least had a +/- rating of -1. Here is the box score and stats from Sunday’s game.

Takeaways

The losing streak stands at seven games and the playoffs are becoming less likely as the days go by. They remain at 62 points, which is tied for 14th in the conference. They are nine points out of the last wild card spot but also just one point back of last place in the eastern conference.

The offensive woes continue for the Devils as they have only two goals in the last three games, being shutout twice.

With all of the missing players in the Devils lineup, it will be interesting to see if any recent call ups (Blandisi, Lappin, Stollery, Coleman) can earn a roster spot for the remainder of the season.