- The Matchup: New Jersey Devils @ Columbus Blue Jackets
- The Time: 7:00pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSGSN, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
The Devils went down to Georgia, I mean Florida, I mean Tampa Bay on Friday night, securing their first win of the season. After realizing that yes, the games do start at puck drop, in the first period, the Devils came out ready to play. They jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first period, and for all intents and purposes never looked back. Tampa Bay fought to make it interesting, but after two quick Devils goals in the 3rd, the game was effectively over. Arseny Girtsyuk scored his first 2 NHL
points, and all was right in Devils Nation for a few hours.
Last Blue Jackets Game
The Blue Jackets defeated the Minnesota Wild by a score of 7-4 on Saturday night. They currently have a 1-1-0 record after playing their first 2 games of the season on the road. Tonight’s game is their home opener. When you take into account that their home crowd will be fired up (you see what I did there…because of the cannon) and the fact that they just got their first win of the season and want to get some early season momentum, I expect a team ready to play tonight.
Jake Allen? Live…Here…Tonight?
I know it’s early in the season (game 3 to be exact). The Devils DID get the win on Saturday. It’s hard to complain with a win. With that being said, so far, Markstrom did the team no favors in game 1 and the team, won in spite of him against Tampa. There are 80 games to go. I know how this works. Either goalie can go on a hot or cold streak at any time. I’m sure Markstrom will have a chance to “redeem” himself. Right now though, in the SUPER small sample size of only 2 games, his stats leave much to be desired. 8 goals against, on 49 shots against…a whopping 4.04 GAA and an Antartica level SV % of .837.
Yes, I know these won’t be his numbers all season. I’m aware. We all are. But right now, the man is not on point. Personally, I don’t think this team has a clear cut starter or backup. That’s not a knock on either of them. It’s more I think they have 2 goalies at basically the same skill level. Play the hot hand. Give the cold or lukewarm one a rest. Let them fight it out. I expect Jake Allen to get his first game of the season tonight, and hopefully he’s ready to answer the call. Or text. Or however players get the message in 2025.
The Injury Plague Bug Updates
As of this writing, (late Sunday evening) I would expect the lineup tonight to be the same as it was against Tampa Bay. Dadonov is officially out for the remainder of the road trip, per Amanda Stein on Saturday. I don’t believe Noesen traveled with the team, so I don’t expect to see him tonight either. I’m pretty sure Brett Pesce will have a skeleton made out of adamantium, come December with the abuse he’s been taking.
The only other possible “story” to maybe watch today/tonight is if Nico plays. There were no official posts regarding Nico last night after the game, though there was some concern his hand might have been hurt after taking a shot late in the game. Hopefully there is nothing there, and I personally expect him to play, as we probably would have heard something by now. However, again, something to potentially keep on eye on before puck drop tonight.
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
Grimace is in a little bit of a foul mood today. He admits, he did not get the score correct, but as he has told me 20 times in the last 12 hours, he DID predict the win. Yet, he did not get an official thank you from Tim in his game recap. I tried to assure him it, it was probably a mistake…a temporary lapse in judgement. He said he was ok, but it was not convincing.
He was kind enough to predict that due to Jake Allen starting, the team will win again tonight. He did refuse to predict the score again though. Maybe he will for my next recap. We will have to wait and see.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 2-0-0 (yes he counts the preseason game).
Your Take
Personally, I want to see the team start the game tonight the exact same way they started the Tampa game. Come out with some snarl. Come out like you have something to prove. Nothing is going to be handed to you. If you want to win, you have to take it. That is what they did against Tampa, and that is what they need to do, night in, night out, to win consistently in the NHL. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!
