Columbus Blue Jackets need pot of goals against New Jersey Devils
Prior to hosting the Devils, coach Dean Evason, Zach Werenski and Boone Jenner are confident the Blue Jackets will stay in the playoff chase.
Well, at least the goal drought’s over.Â
Mathieu Olivier ended an unsightly dry spell in goals for the Blue Jackets at 182:55 on Monday night at Nationwide Arena, but the New Jersey Devils still managed to win, 2-1, to deal Columbus a maddening fourth straight loss.Â
Despite coming to life following Olivier’s goal, which cut the Devils’ lead to 2-1 and prompted a late push that led to a whopping 24-3 edge in shots over New Jersey in the third, the Blue Jackets (31-28-8) couldn’t avoid another gut-wrenching defeat. They dropped their fourth straight game while trying to keep pace in a tight playoff race for the second wild-card spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
“We played the right way,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “We played hard, we played disciplined, we played within the system structurally. We just didn’t get the result … but we’re right where we want to be. We’ve love to be 10 points up in a (playoff) spot, but these kind of things, streaks, you have to believe. It takes some time to get out of it, and you have some breaks, and that has to be our momentum-shifting period to go forward.”
Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt scored goals on successive shifts late in the second period for the Devils (37-26-6), who got 23 of 45 saves from goalie Jake Allen to get out of a lopsided third period with a win. Rookie goalie Jet Greaves started for the Blue Jackets and made 18 saves in a tough-luck loss.
“I was just thinking more about the win,” Olivier said of ending the Blue Jackets’ prolonged scoring slump. “I think a win would’ve been better to lift that weight. Our ‘compete’ was there, definitely a better performance, we gave ourselves a chance to win and sometimes you just fall short.”
It took almost two periods, but the Devils took a 2-0 lead late in the second on back-to-back goals by Meier and Bratt, who scored with 6:25 remaining and then 5:46 left respectively.
Meier scored off a strong rush to the net up the left wing, jamming the puck between Greaves’ pads for a 1-0 lead before crashing into the Jackets’ rookie goalie. Greaves then coughed up the puck off an unlucky bounce off the yellow plastic kick plate of the end boards behind his net. His clearing attempt went straight to Bratt rather than around the boards and the Devils forward pounced to put it into an open net.
“I thought we had a decent game overall,” Olivier said. “We just had a second goal that was kind of a fluke and it just cost us a game. It’s a 1-1 game if you take he fluke out of the game, but that’s life. That’s the game, as well. I thought we pushed really hard in the third, gave ourselves a chance … fell short.”
The goals finally put an end to a stretch of 33:35 with the score 0-0, but the Jackets’ drought from their previous two-plus games lasted through the second and most of the third. They trailed 2-0 starting the third, had to be feeling snakebitten going into the second intermission and nearly went another full game without scoring.
It wasn’t for lack of effort.
The Jackets outshot the Devils 22-17 and held a 37-36 edge in attempts after two periods before stepping on the gas pedal in the third. Powered by desperation, the Blue Jackets threw everything they had at Allen and the Devils in the third. It still wasn’t enough to get a puck in the net until Olivier finally got the job done with a wrist shot from the middle of the slot with 6:36 left to play.
That pumped life into a lifeless building and the Jackets, who peppered Allen with an 8-2 edge in shots on a 15-4 edge in attempts after Olivier’s goal. It just wasn’t enough. The challenge only gets more difficult Thursday with the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers visiting Thursday, but the goal is to carry the end of Monday’s game into the start of that one.
“Did we get the result? No,” Evason said. “Did we play the right way? Do we believe this is the turning point? Do we believe this is the one that – not only the period but the game – that turns us around and we’re ready to go forward? Yeah, 100%.”
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