The Columbus Blue Jackets and the New Jersey Devils will end the month of December as they started it: by facing each other.
They could also end the month tied in the standings, something neither team could have imagined 30 days ago.
The Blue Jackets will look to stay hot while the Devils try to stop their slide Wednesday night when Columbus hosts New Jersey in a New Year’s Eve battle between Metropolitan Division rivals.
The Blue Jackets picked up their third straight victory Monday night, taking a 4-1 road win over the Ottawa Senators.
The Devils are ending a back-to-back game streak after suffering a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
The defeat allowed the Devils to remain only two points ahead of the Blue Jackets, alone in the basement of the Eastern Conference with 40 points. Columbus opened December six points behind New Jersey.
It hasn’t been an entirely smooth month for the Blue Jackets, who rattled off two straight wins in early December – including a 5-3 victory over New Jersey on December 1 – before losing seven of eight (1-6-1) from December 6-20.
However, the Blue Jackets ended the holiday by edging the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders and Ottawa 11-4. Columbus, which scored three goals in the final five minutes to upset the visiting Islanders on Sunday, never trailed against the Senators despite a series of flight delays that forced faceoff to be pushed back a half-hour.
“Our guys don’t care, they don’t care,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “They just play hockey. They did it. Yeah, maybe we didn’t have the results earlier in the year, but for the most part we played the same way. Our guys don’t worry about the distractions outside the locker room and in the arena, and that allows them to have a chance to win hockey games.”
December’s results went one way for New Jersey, which is 4-9-1 this month. This four-game losing streak is the second time in the last five weeks that the Devils have lost four or more games in a row. They lost five in a row from November 29 to December 6.
The Devils have been outscored 13-5 during the current streak, which follows New Jersey’s only winning streak this month – a pair of 2-1 road victories over the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout on Dec. 17 and the Utah Mammoth on Dec. 19.
Tuesday’s shutout loss was the third of the month for the Devils, who have scored three goals or fewer in seven straight games and 11 times overall in December. New Jersey’s 103 goals this season are the fewest among Eastern Conference teams.
Devils captain Nico Hischier tried to create a spark in the third period Tuesday when he faced Maple Leafs left wing Matthew Knies, who is 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds, 2 inches taller and 32 pounds heavier than Hischier. However, Toronto scored 13 seconds later when Calle Jarnkrok’s shot deflected off New Jersey defender Jonas Siegenthaler and gave the hosts a 3-0 lead.
“Do we need some guys to step up, show emotion, show courage, play with urgency and get out of character?” » said Devils coach Sheldon Keefe. “Yeah, we need more of that. I like that Nico did it, and I hope it rubs off on the rest of the group in a positive way. Your captain is out there to take on a big, out-of-character guy. We’ll see what we get.”
–Field level media
