Devils Fall 4-2 to Blue Jackets | GAME STORY

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite a strong effort where New Jersey generated 44 shots, pushed hard, and scored twice late in the third period, the Devils struggled to get past a red-hot Elvis Merzlikins, and fell 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"We should have scored a lot more than we did tonight," head coach Sheldon Keefe shared postgame. "Goalie was outstanding on their side. We gave up too many. I thought we played a good game in lots of areas, very structured, didn't give up too much, but we coughed some up.

"When the other goalie is playing like he is, you can't give those up," Keefe continued. "That made it too big of a hole to get out of."

Ivan Provorov opened the scoring eight minutes in. After a save off an initial one-handed shot by Zach Aston-Reese, Provorov followed up on the rebound to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Throughout the first period, New Jersey continued to get chances, but Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins continued to stop everything he faced.

The Devils were pushing hard to start the second period, recording six shots in the first four minutes of the middle frame. However, Columbus would score again, nine and a half minutes in on the power play. With traffic in front Zach Werenski’s shot got through giving the home team a 2-0 lead.

With seven minutes left in the second period, the Devils had yet another great chance. Off a clean faceoff win by Erik Haula, who joined the Hughes line for this shift, and a great feed from Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes’ shot was snatched by Merzlikins, one of several times he robbed Hughes. The Devils outshot the Blue Jackets 17-8 in the second period but were outscored 2-0 in the middle frame.

"I thought our second period was dominant," Keefe explained. "We were dominant in the second period, all the way through yet we get outscored two to nothing. That's disappointing because I thought we had a really good period in the second and stayed with it in the third."

New Jersey continued to push early in the third period, with eight shots in the first eight minutes of the final frame. Near the halfway point of the third, the Blue Jackets went on a 3-on-1, and Jake Allen saved Sean Monahan's shot. As the puck stayed right in front of the net, Brett Pesce cleared the puck out, coming up big for his goaltender.

The Devils pulled their goaltender with over five minutes left in the final frame and continued to get chances but Merzlikins continued to turn everything away. With 2:50 left in regulation, Luke Hughes scored to finally break through. There was a scramble in front and Luke found space to get a rebound and shot high over a fallen Merzlikins.

With the net still empty, the Devils continued to get chances, trying to get another past the Columbus netminder. New Jersey broke through again when Timo Meier scored with 1:25 left in the period. 15 seconds later, the Blue Jackets would seal their win with an empty net goal by Monahan, making it 4-2.

"We definitely had our chances to score more than we did," Timo Meier shared postgame. "Their goalie made some good saves, I got to give credit to that but it's also on us to bury those chances that we have. In the third there, at the end, we got close but we started scoring too late. The good things is we didn't give up until the last second. We tried everything we got, just didn't go our way today."

Here are some observations from the game:

•Jack Hughes was a force in this game, registering 13 total shots including eight in the middle frame. His 13 shots in the game set a new career high for shots in a single game. His previous record was 11 on Feb. 27, 2024 at San Jose. His eight shots in the second tie his career-high for shots in a single period which he set on Mar. 21, 2024 against Winnipeg.

"To me, this might have been Jack Hughes' best game of the season," Keefe shared. "He was outstanding. He's either directly getting the shot and the chance himself, or creating it for others and driving us down the ice. He wanted to win this game. (It) was very, very clear how determined he was to help lead the charge on the 6-on-5 situations. I thought the second and third period, I thought he was outstanding. And a lot of other nights, he probably has three or four (goals)."

“He’s got a massive competitive spirit," Luke said about his brother. "He’s the heart and soul of our team, pushes until the very end, he makes you want to compete more. Can’t say enough (good things).”

•The Devils effort and resiliency to keep pushing was evident throughout this entire game. Despite not getting the win, it is something the group can take pride in.

"There's not quit in our group," Meier shared. "We just keep going. Even if you feel like the goalie is making unbelievable saves, you just keep going. Then it's going to come eventually if you work hard enough. You got to earn your bounces."

“We have a really resilient group,” Luke Hughes shared. “Obviously not the outcome we wanted but for all of our guys to play a 60 like that and push to the very end is a very important thing. If we play like that we’re going to win a lot of hockey games.”

•Throughout the second period, Erik Haula joined Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt with Haula taking face-offs. In Haula’s place, Nico Hischier joined Paul Cotter and Stefan Noesen. Late in the second, Nico Hischier joined Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes for a shift. During the third period, Bratt, Hischier, and Hughes were reunited again. Ondrej Palat joined Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer on a line with Hischier on the previous shift.

•The Devils had only one power play in this game, where they were unable to score despite having a handful of close chances and two shots on the man advantage. New Jersey took two penalties, both in the second period, and the Blue Jackets were able to score on the second. On the first penalty, the Devils penalty killers - Nico Hischier, Brenden Dillon, Dawson Mercer, and Johnathan Kovacevic - were out the entire two minutes and withstood a stretch of 1:31 in their own end.

"Really important games coming up for us before Christmas," Meier said about the schedule moving forward. "We want to end this stretch before Christmas the right way ... after a loss like this we got to put our heads up and go to work at home, in front of our fans, and get the points."

The Devils return home for two more games at Prudential Center before the holiday break. Saturday is Devils Down the Shore night and tickets are still available. Monday afternoon the Devils will host the New York Rangers for New Jersey's final game before the holiday break. The Devils have ticket deals now for the holidays, don't miss out!