The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (28-25-2) versus the Columbus Blue Jackets (27-20-7)
The Time: 7:00 PM
The Broadcast: TV — MSGSN
Columbus 8-1-0 Since Firing Head Coach
If you are expecting the same sad Columbus team who promised to knock the Devils out on New Years’ Eve and promptly fell apart in the actual game, don’t get too excited.
The Blue Jackets are red hot since firing Dean Evason for Rick Bowness, putting together an 8-1-0 record and a +13 goal differential in nine games under Bowness. In this time, Columbus has only let one game go to overtime:
when they beat Pittsburgh in a shootout on January 17. The Blue Jackets’ current five-game winning streak has all come in regulation, and they have scored 22 goals over the last four games. Prior to this, their best four-game offensive stretch came from October 25 to November 1, when they scored 18 goals, including one in overtime, in a four-game winning streak. This is not a team that had a reputation for being high-scoring before Bowness took over.
They may not be at full strength, though. Sean Monahan missed most of their last win over St. Louis but he has returned to practice and will be good to go. Kirill Marchenko, however, is also dealing with an illness. He missed practice yesterday, and he may miss tonight’s game. Marchenko is Columbus’ leading forward scorer with 19 goals and 46 points in 50 games. Whether he misses the game or plays through an illness, the Devils have to take advantage and attack Columbus with the thought that they can handle counter-attacks with a slightly compromised forward group.
Through January 11, the last game Evason coached, the Blue Jackets had the 20th-most goals scored in the league in all situations. Since then, they have the 11th-most goals scored despite only playing nine games (the average team has played 10 or 11), and they have the fourth-best scoring rate (3.96) per 60 minutes. In the same timeframe, the Devils have the 22nd-best scoring rate (2.67) despite having Jack Hughes for most of the stretch, alongside a surprise outburst of goal scoring from third-line center Cody Glass and a very promising debut from Lenni Hameenaho.
But hey, it’s not like any of the Devils’ top players have publicly taken issue with the way the team plays.
(After Meier gave this intermission interview, in which he emphasized the need to forecheck harder, the Devils were outshot 25 to 16 and had a negative high-danger chance disparity of 11 to 3, despite having three power plays and an empty net situation.)
Day-by-Day
The Devils had their Sweep the Deck event last night, and while this was a charity event, players were still asked about hockey issues. Jack Hughes was faced with some questions about his health and his availability for the upcoming Olympics.
This might not help the look of Jack missing games before playing in the Olympics, but I think Jack’s answer needs a bit of perspective. When Jack says he’s trying to be back before the Olympics, I take that to mean that he is trying to play tonight and Thursday. As much as I agree that it doesn’t look good if he misses the Devils games and then plays in Milan, it is a six-day gap between the Devils’ last game and Team USA’s first game against Latvia. For a day-to-day injury, I would certainly hope he’s healthy by February 11.
But the Devils are in must-win territory, so they have to take each matchup game-by-game, night-by-night. There is no room for long-range thinking or pondering the standings for the players on the ice and the coaches behind the bench. The only thing they can do at this point is give all of their attention, focus, and effort to the day at hand, as they must assume that they have to win.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of tonight’s game? Can the Devils win? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
