Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner nearing return
Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner is getting close to returning from an injury that has sidelined him since Nov. 11 at the Seattle Kraken.
Fight Night at “The Rock” went to the Blue Jackets with a knockout of the New Jersey Devils.
One thing we’re learning while Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson and forward Mathieu Olivier are shelved is that opposing teams are willing to test their toughness. They apparently don’t think there’s any bite without those two around, but the Jackets are biting back.
The Devils learned the hard way Dec. 1 in the Blue Jackets’ 5-3 victory at “The Rock,” which is also known as Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
“This is our group,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters at Prudential Center. “That is our group. That’s how we play. I hope just because we got into a few fights tonight, that it doesn’t look abnormal to you, because we work our (tails) off every night. Maybe we haven’t gotten rewarded as of late, but we got rewarded tonight … and we got the job done.”
They also stood up for themselves and each other.
After Sean Monahan’s first of two goals tied it 2-2 early in the second, fully getting the Jackets out of an early 2-0 hole, the game shifted into old time hockey for about18 minutes.
Ignited by a post-whistle scrum that led to a fight that ended with Blue Jackets forward Dmitri Voronkov pummeling Devils defenseman Brendan Dillon, the middle period became a pulse pounding clash of verbal jabs, slashes, cross-checks, bear hugs, upper cuts and actual jabs while 64 penalty minutes were in the penalty boxes on 16 combined infractions.
It wasn’t a free-for-all like the 1970s or 1980s, but the violence level jumped a few notches quickly.
Voronkov’s fight left Dillon needing help getting off the ice with jellied legs after possibly slamming his head on the ice following two upper cuts to his face. It was Dillon’s 1,000th NHL game, and before the game he was given a silver commemorative stick.
Later, Dillon used his game stick to ignite the melee that got him injured, attempting to cross-check Adam Fantilli in the head after the young Blue Jackets center followed his own shot by jabbing at the puck under goalie Jake Allen’s pad.
Voronkov pulled Dillon away, but the Devils defenseman came up swinging and landed a gloved right hand to Voronkov’s chops. That prompted Voronkov to drop his gloves, and he threw two huge upper cuts to Dillon’s head before he fell to the ice.
From that point, it was near bedlam.
Connor Brown targeted Zach Werenski and other Blue Jackets with slashes and cross-checks, Jonas Sigenthaler instigated a fight with Fantilli and took a barrage of punches while his untied jersey came up over his head.
Not having his jersey tied down cost Siegenthaler the fight and his involvement in the game after he was ejected, per NHL rule, for not tying it. Voronkov then fought Stefan Noesen off a draw as the Devils sought repercussion for Dillon’s injury, and the towering Russian paid a price for respecting hockey’s unwritten fighting rules.
After Noesen fell, Voronkov pulled him up like a rag doll to continue the fight and then lost his own balance. That’s when Noesen landed his only punches, while the Blue Jackets forward was down, and that’s frowned upon in hockey.
Noesen may face the music against the Blue Jackets at some point, but that fight wasn’t the end of the dispute. Brendan Smith, a veteran defenseman, also dropped the gloves, locking horns and arms with Devils forward Paul Cotter in a punchless tilt that resembled a wrestling match.
The Devils were the third straight team to test the Blue Jackets’ grit since Olivier was injured Nov. 24 in Washington. Each has learned the same lesson. The Jackets won’t be intimidated and will push back.
“It doesn’t matter who gets in the fight,” Evason said. “It doesn’t matter how big you are or how gritty you’re perceived. If you’re playing together and you’re playing hard for each other, then those things sometimes happen.”
Evason was that type of player, a scrappy center who played with a sharp edge, short fuse and gigantic heart.
“It’s OK.” he said. “It’s OK to stick up for your teammate. It wasn’t like we were running around trying to fight everybody. It was situations where guys were getting hit or whatever, and guys were sticking up, and it happens in the game.”
Here are two more takeaways:
Columbus Blue Jackets close out a third period lead vs. New Jersey Devils
It was bound to happen again at some point, so why not this game?
Despite allowing a power-play goal that made a 4-2 lead 4-3 with 12:08 left to play, the Blue Jackets didn’t let another third period lead slip away. Charlie Coyle stole a puck on a forecheck, sent a feed to Miles Wood and celebrated after a snapshot pushed the lead back to a two-goal cushion at 5-3.
Coming into the game, the Blue Jackets coughed up third period leads in eight of their first 25 games to let some critical points get away despite adding points in overtime periods and shootouts in most of their collapses.
This time, they stopped the oncoming collapse at one goal and won in regulation. Progress.
Coyle finished with three points on a goal and two assists for his third multi-point game of the season, bringing his scoring up to four goals, 14 assists and 18 points in 26 games.
Wood had two points on a goal and assist for his second multi-point game, making his scoring line 7-3-10 in 20 games following an early eye injury. Both are now playing together on the third line while Olivier is out, and they’re paying big dividends for an offseason trade that brought them from Colorado to Columbus.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social