Blue Jackets at Devils
The New Jersey jumped into first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 4-1 victory at Columbus on Tuesday night, but the Blue Jackets will try to reclaim the top spot in the back end of their home-and-home series Friday night at Newark, N.J. Devils netminder Cory Schneider earned career win No. 100 in style with 41 saves in Tuesday's matchup.
New Jersey coach John Hynes expects a major push-back from Columbus, which has dropped consecutive games following an 8-1-0 stretch that propelled it to the top of the Metropolitan. "It’s a good challenge for us," Hynes said. "We won the first game. I think any time you play a team back-to-back, the game becomes more intense." While Hynes heaped praise on Schneider's performance, the Blue Jackets were pointing to their own lack of intensity. “That’s the first time I actually felt embarrassed, toward the end of the game, in a while," defenseman Zach Werenski said. "We didn’t play hard enough. ... They did whatever they wanted to do.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), MSG-Plus (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (16-7-4): Rookie Nico Hischier didn't enter the league with the buzz that accompanied Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, the previous two No. 1 overall picks. Still, the 18-year-old Hischier has 20 points in 27 games after collecting a pair of assists in Tuesday's win. "We weren't drafting by need when we selected Nico first overall," Devils general manager Ray Shero said. "We had good young players, but we didn't have anyone like him with the playmaking, the vision, the creativity. And he cares more defensively than he does offensively. It's starting to come together."
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (17-10-1): Josh Anderson leads Columbus with 10 goals -- the only forward to score more than seven -- and the power play is a disaster, failing on all six chances against New Jersey to dip to a ghastly 7-for-81 on the season. “We can slice it 10 different ways and talk about it 10 different ways — our top players haven’t been our top players,” coach John Tortorella said. “And they have to start being our top players.” Cam Atkinson, a 35-goal scorer last season, has six tallies while Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky and Alexander Wennberg have combined for seven.
OVERTIME
1. Devils rookie F Jesper Bratt has three goals in the past four games to give him 19 points in 27 games.
2. Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno has followed a 13-game goal drought by scoring three times in the last six games.
3. New Jersey has killed off 17 of 18 short-handed situations over the past five games.