The Devils’ Offense Comes Alive to Beat the Blue Jackets 5-3

Jesper Bratt, Cody Glass, and Luke Hughes all contributed to arguably the Devils’ biggest win of the season. Check out what happened in this game recap.

With the Columbus Blue Jackets nipping at New Jersey’s heels for third place in the Metropolitan Division, the Devils and The People Who Matter recognized the significance of the second game of the season series between the Devils and Blue Jackets.

First Period

New Jersey’s effort and hustle in the first period matched the gravitas of the situation. The Devils played simple, north-south hockey, quickly breaking the puck out of the defensive zone while sending pucks deep in the offensive zone and aggressively forechecking. Six minutes into the first frame, the Devils were leading four to two in shots when Dante Fabbro tripped Nate Bastian. Less than a minute later, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt made Columbus pay. Bratt sent a pass from the point to Hischier at the side of the net, and Hischier deflected the puck through Elvis Merzlikins. 1-0 Devils!

About two minutes later, Paul Cotter held Kirill Marchenko. The Devils killed the penalty without allowing a single shot. Bratt and Hischier added another scoring opportunity while shorthanded. As his time in the penalty box expired, Cotter came out of the box flying, collected a loose puck at the Devils’ blue line, raced up the ice, and beat Merzlikins through the five-hole. 2-0 Devils!

New Jersey had the better legs in the first period and controlled possession in the offensive zone. Defensively, the Devils aggressively challenged the Blue Jackets’ puck-handlers and allowed for few scoring chances. According to Natural Stat Trick, New Jersey recorded six high-danger scoring chances to Columbus’ two. The best scoring chance for the Blue Jackets was an opportunity for Sean Kuraly with just under five minutes left in the period. Kuraly skated past Jesper Bratt and walked in on Jacob Markstrom but could not convert. It was one of the few “uh oh” moments for New Jersey in the first 20 minutes.

Columbus made a concerted effort to establish more offensive zone pressure following Kuraly’s chance, but Cody Glass and Jesper Bratt stopped that. With just over a minute remaining in the frame, Glass tried to send a pass to Bratt through two Columbus defenders. Zach Werenski partially deflected the pass, but not enough to prevent Bratt from swatting it past Merzlikins. The first period ended with the Devils leading 3-0!

Second Period

As expected, the Blue Jackets recovered and pushed back in the second period. Columbus matched New Jersey’s skating, which caused problems with the Devils’ breakouts and allowed the Blue Jackets more offensive zone possession time. On one offensive possession three minutes and thirty seconds into the period, Mathieu Olivier tipped a Denton Mateychuk shot from the point past Jacob Markstrom. 3-1 Devils.

The Devils suffered from sloppy play in the defensive zone throughout the period. Columbus tilted the ice and recorded three high-danger scoring chances to New Jersey’s one at five-on-five during the frame. Almost four minutes later, Adam Fantilli connected with Kirill Marchenko on a slick pass past Tomas Tatar and Dennis Cholowski. Marchenko snuck behind Cholowski and made a forehand to backhand move to beat Markstrom. 3-2 Devils.

The Devils would not finish the second period without a fight. With 8:33 remaining in the period, Nico Hischier was penalized for tripping. Fortunately for the Devils, Brett Pesce drew a hooking call on Columbus about a minute later. After the four-on-four time expired, the Devils’ power play went to work and poured on their best offensive pressure. Luke Hughes was excellent in the quarterback role on the abbreviated power play, and Hischier had a flurry of chances as the man-advantage time expired.

Following the power play, New Jersey had several odd-man rushes against Columbus. Less than two minutes after returning to even strength, Stefan Noesen made an outstanding spinning, turnaround pass to an open Timo Meier exiting the defensive zone. Meier carried the puck all the way up the ice with a rushing Dawson Mercer. Meier blistered a shot from the right faceoff dot, beating Merzlikins on the blocker side. It was a massive goal for the Devils, and Timo definitely deserved it tonight. 4-2 Devils!

Despite giving up two goals early in the period, the Devils held the overall advantage in scoring chances 11-8. Many of those scoring chances were on the power play, and at even strength, the Blue Jackets recorded six scoring chances to the Devils’ five. Columbus was much more successful in sending the puck deep in New Jersey’s end and battling for pucks in the second period, but the Devils fought back late. The score was 4-2 in favor of the Devils at the end of two periods.

Third Period

The Devils started the third period precisely the way they needed to. Less than 30 seconds into the frame, Cody Glass (yes, Cody Glass again!) drove hard into the offensive end and passed from the low corner to Luke Hughes at the point. Hughes walked down to the top of the circle and sniped a shot past Merzlikins. Another enormous goal to start the third period! 5-2 Devils!

From that point on, New Jersey was content to play keep away and protect the house. For the next nine minutes and change, the Devils only recorded two shots: a glorified dump-in from Tomas Tatar from the neutral zone and a nifty between-the-legs backhand attempt from Paul Cotter on the doorstep off of a rebound. The Devils had more puck possession time in the offensive zone in the third period than the second but were satisfied to do little with it.

With 14:16 remaining, Erik Haula received a tripping penalty, but the Blue Jackets couldn’t do any damage. The Devils didn’t allow a single shot, according to NHL.com’s shot report. The Blue Jackets were able to score about five minutes later on an unlucky bounce. Jacob Markstrom attempted to rim the puck out of the zone following a dump-in but was unsuccessful. Mathieu Olivier eventually recovered the puck behind the goal and tried to bring it out front to shoot. In doing so, Olivier’s shot deflected off of Jesper Bratt’s extended stick and over Markstrom, who was also attempting to poke at the puck. 5-3 Devils.

Columbus committed three penalties in the second half of the third period, including a soft roughing call on Olivier. However, the Devils were only credited with one shot on the power play and six shots in the period. The series of penalties did halt the Blue Jackets’ comeback attempt.

The Result: A massive 5-3 victory for the New Jersey Devils.

The Game Stats: NHL.com Recap, NHL.com Game Summary, NHL.com Event Summary, NHL.com Full Play-by-Play, NHL.com Shot Report, Natural Stat Trick Game Stats

Takeaways

Jesper Bratt & Cody Glass

Jesper Bratt was a driving force in tonight’s game, recording a goal and two assists. Those two assists bring Bratt within five of Scott Stevens’ franchise single-season record. Bratt approaching the assists record was briefly discussed on the broadcast tonight, but I don’t think it is recognized enough.

Cody Glass added two more assists tonight, and my question is whether the change in scenery was enough. We often see this phenomenon in sports when a team fires a coach. The team’s play improves for the interim coach for the next game or two before returning to the mean. Will that be the case with Glass? You don’t get drafted sixth overall without being a talented hockey player. I’m hoping the opportunity to play with guys like Jesper Bratt will help him break out. At the least, he has helped the Devils win two important hockey games thus far.

A Line Adjustment

Head coach Sheldon Keefe adjusted the lines, adding Jesper Bratt to the line with Cody Glass and Erik Haula. The line produced a Corsi For Percentage (CF%) of 52.94, which is good, but they also struggled a bit defensively, according to the metrics. According to Natural Stat Trick, the line allowed five scoring chances at five-on-five, including four high-danger chances. In my opinion, the eye test did not reflect those defensive issues.

The best line of the night was easily Nico Hischier’s line. The line had a CF% of 64.29 at even strength, and the chemistry between Nico and Timo was on full display. I was thankful Meier scored in this one because Hischier set him up with at least three or four good scoring opportunities through the first two periods. Hischier’s line recorded an expected for (xGF%) of 71.11 at five-on-five, creating two high-danger scoring chances while allowing none.

The line that didn’t move the needle was Ondrej Palat, Dawson Mercer, and Tomas Tatar. Overall, the line recorded a CF% of 36.84, creating four scoring chances at even strength. Honestly, I can’t recall any of those scoring chances. Individually, all three players posted CF%s in the 30s. I am not a fan of that statistic, but the eye test matched the data in this case. Keefe is trying to find the right combination to get all four lines rolling, but Palat and Tatar have not made that easy.

Goalies Handling the Puck

When goalies handle the puck, it makes me nervous. Insert Steve Dangle saying, “If you’re a goaltender…” I know Marty did it for years and was THE BEST at it. Jacob Markstrom does it a lot and usually does it well. But sometimes, I think it is better if they leave the puck alone. Columbus’ third goal tonight was an example of a goalie handling the puck, possibly causing more harm than good. The Blue Jackets dumped it in, and Markstrom knocked the puck down from the dash to play it. That alone was an impressive play on Markstrom’s part, but Brenden Dillon and Erik Haula were in position to win the race to the puck. Instead of allowing a defenseman or wing to collect the puck on a potentially routine breakout, Markstrom tried to rim the puck high and out of the zone, which is when the chaos ensued. Columbus knocked the puck down and got it to Olivier behind the net, who beat Dennis Cholowski and got a lucky bounce. It was a fluke goal with the odd bounce, but if Markstrom allows Dillon or Haula to win the race to a routine dump-in, does the chaos after the failed clearing attempt happen? Maybe. Maybe not. Ultimately, it was not a big deal, but just an observation from tonight’s game.

Standout Penalty Kill

New Jersey took three penalties in this game and only allowed one shot on the penalty kill per NHL.com. Columbus, currently ranked 20th in the NHL, is not known for its power play. Shutting down those opportunities was significant for the Devils in this matchup.

Current Standings

The Devils’ victory moved them six points ahead of the Blue Jackets for the third playoff spot in the Metro Division. New Jersey faces Columbus again on March 17th for the season series finale. The Rangers lost to the Jets in regulation and are eight points behind the Devils.

Up Next

The Devils will play the Oilers at The Rock at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of the line of Bratt, Glass, and Haula? How has Cody Glass played through two games? Does Markstrom’s puck handling make you nervous, or is that just me? Let us know in the comments section below. Thank you for reading, and GO DEVILS!!