Game Preview: Blue Jackets, Devils Battle At Nationwide Tuesday As Columbus Looks To Stop Skid

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

19–29–5 (43 points; .399%) ROSTER / SCHEDULE

7:00 P.M. – TUESDAY, MARCH 1ST NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH

ESPN+ Hockey Night (ESPN+/Hulu) *Not Available on Bally Sports*

For the fourth and final time of the season, the Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils will do battle when the two teams meet Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.

The Devils have scored three goals in each of the first three contests, but the Blue Jackets have scored four in two of those, taking two of the three games.

Three, of course, is also the number of goals Columbus allowed to Pittsburgh in Sunday's controversial 3-2 loss. It was the Blue Jackets' second straight defeat after a four-game winning streak that put the club back (just barely) into the conversation of a potential Stanley Cup Playoff spot. At 27-25-1 and on pace for 85 points, the Blue Jackets would need to finish the season roughly 20-7-2 to make up enough ground to catch the current 98-point pace of the team who has the final wildcard spot, the Washington Capitals.

Impossible? No.

Improbable? Yes.

A win Tuesday would bring March in like a lion for the Blue Jackets, who will also need it to go out like one if they have a postseason spot in mind.

RE: JERSEY

Which version of the Devils will show up Tuesday night: the ones who crushed Vancouver 7-2 Monday night in Newark, or the one that gave up eight goals in an 8-5 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks? The ones who mauled the Penguins 6-1 in Pittsburgh last week, or the ones who needed that win to stop a 2-9-1 slide in that started in late January?

Statistically, the Devils are led on offense by Jesper Bratt. He's the team-leader in points with 50 (19 goals, 31 assists), and that includes his third straight multi-point night in their win over the Canucks.

But in reality, the Devils may be led by the not-yet-old-enough-to-drink Jack Hughes. Hughes had his *fourth* straight multi-point effort Monday, and despite appearing in just 33 games, Hughes is one more multi-point night away from the 40-point mark for the season. In his third season in the league, Hughes continues to make big strides as a player and could be a bonafide superstar in the very near future.

Like it has for Columbus, experience has been one of a few critical downfalls for New Jersey. The two teams bounce around in being the youngest in the league, depending on who is in the lineup on any given night. Hopefully the Devils are a little worn down, too: New Jersey is 2-6-2 on the season on the second night of back-to-back games.

STORYLINES

• RE-ALAINE 
  After an 11-game point streak, Patrik Laine was held off the scoresheet in losses to Carolina and Pittsburgh over the weekend — and as Laine goes, so go the Blue Jackets. They're 10-1-0 in Laine's multi-point games (and 8-4-0 when he has just one point), but 1-10-0 when he's in the lineup and held scoreless (and 8-10-1 when he was out of the lineup with an oblique injury.) Look for Laine to log big minutes Tuesday in an effort to break the mini-schneid.
   
• OF CORSI
  You can't score unless you have the puck, and the Blue Jackets have struggled with puck possession in recent games. Their 47.7% Corsi average for the season is 22nd in the league, but in the last five games, they have control of the puck just 41.4% of the time. That would last by nearly 2% if it were to hold over the course of a season. You have to have the puck to score the puck — it's not rocket science. 

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