The Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils met for the second time in six days, this time at Nationwide Arena. Despite the Blue Jackets throwing everything they had at the Devils, it was Jake Allen who stole the show.
Allen made 45 saves Monday night to backstop the Devils to a huge 2-1 win over the Blue Jackets. He made a pair of second period goals hold up with an unbelievable third-period performance.
The Blue Jackets now have a couple days to think about what could have been.
Game Recap
The first period was two teams getting a feel for each other. There was not much room out there. Shots in the period were just 8-5 for the Blue Jackets.
The Devils got a power play when Denton Mateychuk held Nico Hischier. That turned out to be the only penalty of the night the Blue Jackets took. They successfully killed the penalty off. It was 0-0 after one.
The second period started much like the first. It was a staring contest and whoever blinked first would give up the first goal. The Blue Jackets got caught flat-footed and allowed the Devils to score first.
Timo Meier got the puck on left wing and drove the net hard. Jet Greaves opened the five-hole in the process which allowed room for the opening goal to go in. Meier’s 20th of the season made it 1-0 Devils. The Blue Jackets dominated the game until that point and found themselves trailing.
It only took 39 seconds for it to snowball to a 2-0 lead for the Devils. A bad bounce behind the net got past Greaves and allowed Jesper Bratt to convert on his 20th goal of the season.
The Blue Jackets reached eight full periods at home without scoring a goal. They played the third period like their season was on the line. They finally broke through with just 6:36 left in the game.
Mathieu Olivier scored the Blue Jackets’ first goal overall in 182:55 and first at home in 174:32 to pull them within 2-1. They turned the third period into their own personal firing barrage at Allen. He answered everything else thrown his way.
Shots on goal in the third ended 24-3 Blue Jackets. Despite winning the faceoff at the end and getting a chance to tie, they failed to score.
Postgame, Dean Evason expressed how pleased he was with the effort especially in that third period.
“It was freaking awesome. Did we get the result? No. Did we play the right way? Do we believe that is the turning point? Do we believe that this is one not only the period, the game that turns us around & we’re ready to go forward? Yeah.”
Greaves finished the night with 18 saves. Evason said “he played great.” On the 2-0 goal, Evason said the puck hit the seam on the yellow which caused the bounce.
The Blue Jackets remain two points behind the Rangers for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. They will have Tuesday off before returning to practice on Wednesday. They play Thursday against the Florida Panthers.
The Devils now head home and will host the Calgary Flames on Thursday.