Blue Jackets at Devils
Just as the New Jersey Devils appeared poised to fall off the pace in the Metropolitan, they have battled back into contention in the division by ripping off four consecutive victories. Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets are stumbling back in the pack with three straight losses as they prepare to visit the resurgent Devils on Tuesday night.
New Jersey has alternated streaks over the past month, sandwiching a pair of four-game skids around winning three straight prior to the current four-game run that featured three victories away from home. “I think it’s important we have taken a step in understanding how hard we need to play night in and night out,” Devils coach John Hynes said following Sunday's 3-2 overtime win at Carolina. The Blue Jackets were unable to keep pace with the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins in a 5-2 home loss Sunday night, their eighth defeat in the last 10 games (2-6-2). One of the two victories in that span was a 6-1 throttling of the visiting Devils on Feb. 10 that halted a season-worst five-game slide.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Columbus), MSG Plus (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (25-25-5): Captain Nick Foligno will be sidelined for one to two weeks with what's believed to be a knee injury suffered in Sunday's loss. Foligno went through some lean times earlier in the season with a 12-game point drought and a 10-game stretch in which he collected one assist, but had been coming on since then. "We’re going to miss him there on the ice, absolutely, because I think he’s found his game," coach John Tortorella said. As far as in the room, we have a leadership group, and it just falls on them."
ABOUT THE DEVILS (31-20-8): Taylor Hall scored the game-winning goal inside the final 30 seconds of overtime Sunday and has collected a point in 18 straight appearances dating to Jan. 2. Rookie Nico Hischier is on a pretty decent tear of his own, scoring a goal in each of the past four games to earn the NHL First Star of the Week. “You’re definitely seeing a guy that’s confident shooting, that’s picking corners,” Hall said. "You don’t score four games in a row on a fluke. He’s picking his corners. He’s confident shooting.”
OVERTIME
1. Hall has eight goals and 19 points in 19 games against Columbus.
2. Blue Jackets D Dean Kukan (upper body) was hurt Sunday and will be sideliend at least one week.
3. Devils F Miles Wood will serve the second of a two-game suspension for boarding Tampa Bay's Vladislav Namestnikov.
OVERTIME: Blue Jackets 4, Devils 2