The New Jersey Devils had another horrible game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday to end the weekend on a downward trajectory.
The New Jersey Devils always seem to struggle when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets. The cannon in the building loves when the Devils come to town because it gets to go off more than normal. Last night, it got to fire off five times because they defeated the Devils by a final score of 5-1. It was a pretty atrocious game in the eyes of Devils fans from the very beginning. In fact, the Blue Jackets were leading the game 26 seconds in.
Gilles Senn was given his first career NHL start. He made 35 saves on 38 shots. All three goals given up by Senn were at even strength. He made seven good saves on seven shots taken by Columbus on the power play. The Jackets added two empty-net goals in the final minutes of the game. He had a pretty good starting debut despite getting off to a rough start at the beginning of the game. It would have been nice to see the Devils score some goals to support Senn but it just wasn’t meant to be.
The Devils are in trouble. They looked to be playing well following the Taylor Hall trade but things have gone south over this weekend. They were defeated pretty handily by the Washington Capitals on Friday night before losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets last night. They were outshot 40-22 in the game. That is not the recipe for success no matter who it is that they’re playing. It was a very bad game by the New Jersey Devils in almost all aspects.
The one thing that seemed okay is something that is a usual case. Nico Hischier was awesome for most of the game. He is so good without the puck. He creates turnovers in all areas of the ice and does that to drive play. He didn’t collect a point on the one Devils goal because Sami Vatanen and Pavel Zacha got a stick on it before Will Butcher fired it home but he had a lot to do with it. He won the faceoff in the offensive zone and then went straight to the front of the net to create a screen. He was 64.3 percent in the faceoff dot and continues to improve every game.
The Devils have one chance to redeem themselves before the mandatory holiday break. They are traveling to Chicago to take on the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. It will be a battle of last-place teams looking to go on a run. Chicago has won three of their last four so the Devils are going to need to be on their game and not look assume anything or Patrick Kane and company will own them.