First Period
The Columbus Blue Jackets looked like they took the lead just past five minutes into the first period when Miles Wood fell in the crease and tangled up with Brenden Dillon and Jacob Markstrom. The Blue Jackets got an easy long wrister past Markstrom from Danton Heinen, as he was falling on top of Wood during the incident. However, Sheldon Keefe challenged the goal, and the officials overturned their original call, ruling that Wood entered the crease on his own without Dillon’s aid.
The Devils finally
got their second shot on goal of the game over 12 minutes into the period, with Timo Meier firing a shot off Elvis Merzlikins’s glove. The rebound was obtainable, but the Devils were just a little too far away from it. Just a minute later, Simon Nemec came down the wall and took a drop pass from Jesper Bratt, who spun away from his man in the neutral zone to create a possession. Nemec snuck his shot right past Merzlikins’s glove, but it rang out from the inner-half of the goal post.
With under two minutes to play in the period, Mason Marchment took a tripping penalty on Dougie Hamilton. The power play was predictably terrible at the end of the first period, with only one real shot coming off the stick of Nico Hischier. With just 30 seconds left in the period, Jesper Bratt had Dougie Hamilton wide open and waiting for a one-timer, but he passed it into Dougie’s front skate, and Hamilton’s effort to kick the puck back and take a wrist shot instead allowed Columbus time to block his shooting lane.
Second Period
Like the first period, the Devils and Blue Jackets played dreadfully slow hockey in the first half of the second period. The Devils, however, seemed unable to generate many offensive zone possessions, forced to continually play defense. To their credit, they very much limited the shots Columbus was getting on goal, but they were unable to execute any controlled breakouts, relying heavily on flipping the puck into the neutral zone.
Miles Wood took a goaltender interference penalty with 10:50 to play in the period, then putting his glove on Johnny Kovacevic’s throat for daring to give him a weak one-armed shove after the penalty was called. Like their first power play, though, the Devils looked like they might as well have been shorthanded during their “man advantage.” Columbus had two rushes on Jacob Markstrom, matching the Devils with two shots in the two minutes. Jeremy Colliton remains employed.
The Devils’ best chance came on a rush chance where Connor Brown tried to fire off a one-timer coming down the left flank, but the shot didn’t come quick enough and it deflected wide of goal. Later, Dougie Hamilton almost caught Merzlikins sleeping with a far snap from the wall, but it was just a bit too far out and Merzlikins was able to scramble back to make the stop.
Arseny Gritsyuk was called for holding Kent Johnson with just over two minutes to play in the period. Thankfully, the Devils were better on this penalty kill than they had been on their power plays. The penalty killers got the puck out and down the ice multiple times, sending the game to the third period tied at zero.
Third Period
Lenni Hameenaho drew a hooking penalty from Zach Werenski, who was beat to the outside on a rush. Just past the minute mark of the period, after the Devils had an extended six-on-five that they did nothing with, they went to the power play. Early in the power play, Nico Hischier fired a shot into the crease, but Timo Meier could not power through for a goal. On the next entry after the Devils lost their faceoff draw, Timo Meier could not come up with a pass across from Connor Brown, and Charlie Coyle was promptly sent on a breakaway. Nico Hischier took Coyle down after the shot came off his stick, sending the game to four-on-four for over a minute.
After four-on-four, the Blue Jackets went to the power play. The Devils, however, took the puck away early and were able to waste some time going to the offensive zone. However, Brett Pesce turned the puck over to Zach Werenski off a decision by Jesper Bratt to play the puck back to the neutral zone, and the Jackets were able to gain their offensive zone. They could not, however, generate any shots, and Nico Hischier’s penalty expired unpunished.
Despite starting the game so well, Jacob Markstrom fell asleep at the worst moment a couple minutes later. Dante Fabbro shot it right through Markstrom, who was standing straight up with absolutely no track of the puck on the perimeter after it was knocked away from the crease. 1-0, Blue Jackets.
Before the Devils could even get anymore shots on goal over the next seven minutes of play, Cole Sillinger beat Simon Nemec to get the puck to Mathieu Olivier, who was chased by Timo Meier. Olivier made a move to the backhand and made it 2-0.
The Devils pulled Markstrom early, giving the forwards nearly five minutes of six-on-five time to get two goals. But after Dougie Hamilton had the puck poked away from him at the blueline with four minutes to play, Jesper Bratt watched as the puck went right past him and allowed Olivier to skate off after the loose puck in the neutral zone. Perhaps surprised the two forwards to his left and right did not even break the other way, Dougie tried to get back but broke Olivier’s stick when he tried to avert the chance from behind, automatically awarding a penalty goal to Olivier on the empty net. 3-0.
Columbus 9-1-0 Since Firing Head Coach
The Columbus Blue Jackets did not exactly look great today, but Rick Bowness is sure having a lot of success there since they fired Dean Evason. In any case, the Blue Jackets needed to win this game just as the Devils did. This was the Corsi for percentage breakdown for the teams by period. What happened when it was 0-0 going into the third, with the game on the line? This excludes the last few minutes after the 3-0 goal:
- 1st Period — Devils 67.86%, Blue Jackets 32.14%
- 2nd Period — Devils 45.16%, Blue Jackets 55.84%
- 3rd Period — Devils 27.78%, Blue Jackets 72.22%
Coaches who have the ears and minds of their team don’t regularly have third periods that look like this. But with games tied going into the third, I simply just wait for the other team to score a weak shot on Jacob Markstrom after the forwards stop generating any offense whatsoever. Sheldon Keefe’s Devils are one of the worst third-period teams I have ever seen in my life. They are utterly incapable of coming from behind, and their body language during tied games is more befitting of a team that is already losing.
Keefe and Colliton Must Go
The power play was again pathetic tonight with three chances. Since this Devils team completely lost themselves in the December 1 loss to Columbus, the power play is 13 for 75. 17.33% is unacceptable in today’s NHL. It’s not 2003 anymore, and this team still features Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton even with Jack Hughes temporarily in the press box. This is a team that should be converting at 22-23% at MINIMUM. Worst of all, the power play has disappeared in the games the team has needed it most. Jeremy Colliton should be fired.
But you might not know that watching Sheldon Keefe’s team play hockey. At five-on-five, they make matchups look like they’re a 70s NHL team facing the Soviet Red Army team. With absolutely no motion to speak of in the offensive zone and no attempt to generate quick cycles low and near the net, the Devils just fling the puck around the perimeter until a forward comes out between the two stationary defensemen and shoots a fluttering wrist shot into heavy defensive traffic, almost never actually making it to the net. Maybe, a rookie like Arseny Gritsyuk might make things interesting by doing his own thing in the offensive zone, skating into shooting areas and putting extra oomph on his wrist shots, but trying to score is for losers, apparently. “Real hockey” is now trying to win a 0-0 game by simply not allowing any scoring chances on either end of the ice.
But as the game goes on, this style becomes exhausting. How many times can this team just survive the second period by flipping pucks out to center, putting together 90-second shift after 90-second shift before falling apart in the third before they realize not playing on offense is an issue? By the third period, the Devils’ defensive structure gets lazy, and their opponents might as well be Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov working the puck around the offensive zone.
It’s not just exhausting for the players to play, it’s exhausting for fans to watch. At no point tonight did it ever feel like the Devils might win the game. That falls squarely on Sheldon Keefe and Jeremy Colliton’s complete and utter inability to run an offensive system fit for highly-skilled, fast hockey players in the year 2026.
Tom Fitzgerald Can Continue Turning Over Unproductive Players
That aside, Tom Fitzgerald could move on from several forwards, including Paul Cotter, Evgenii Dadonov (who was scratched tonight), Juho Lammikko, and Luke Glendening, especially now that the Olympic break is at hand. These four have combined for five goals and 11 assists in a combined 145 games this season, and Paul Cotter has all of the goals and five of the assists. Unfortunately for Cotter, he is also on the ice for the Devils being outscored at a two-to-one rate this season.
It’s time for younger and hungrier players to get the call. Brian Halonen, Xavier Parent, Angus Crookshank, and Shane Lachance should all be Devils when everyone is back from Milan. They LITERALLY cannot be worse.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of tonight’s game? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
