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.
Perhaps a period of old time hockey snapped the Blue Jackets out of their habit of blowing late leads.
After duking it out with the New Jersey Devils in a fight filled second period Dec. 1 in Newark, New Jersey, the Jackets ended a frustrating four-game winless skid with a hard fought 5-3 victory at Prudential Center.
Charlie Coyle led the way with three points on a goal and two assists, Sean Monahan added two goals and the Blue Jackets (12-9-5) got 30 saves from goalie Elvis Merzlikins. Denton Mateychuk and former Devils forward Miles Wood scored the other two Columbus goals. Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat and Timo Meier scored for the Devils (16-9-1), who started goalie Jake Allen.
After a raucous second, the Blue Jackets opened a 4-2 lead in the first 7:14 of the third on unanswered goals by Coyle and Monahan 34 seconds apart. New Jersey cut it to 4-3 with 8:09 left on a power play, but Coyle stole the puck deep in the Devils’ zone and fed Wood for a goal that put the Blue Jackets up 5-3 just 1:40 later to regain momentum.
The Devils pulled Allen early with 4:41 left for an extra skater, but the Blue Jackets helped Merzikins make the lead stand up.
New Jersey raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first 3:03 of the game on a goal by Hischier to cap a power play and Palat’s second goal of the season after a Blue Jackets turnover.
Mateychuk cut it to 2-1 at 9:54 on a power play with his sixth goal of the season, and the Blue Jackets then won a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference with 3:14 left to erase a Devils goal that would’ve made it 3-1.
Monahan tied it 2-2 just 1:28 into the second, but the remainder of the period was filled with hard hits, slashes, shoves and punches as the game devolved into an MMA bout on skates. The teams engaged in four official fights and combined for 64 penalty minutes on 16 penalties assessed each way.Â
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.socialÂ