It was another big night upon a career season by Jack Hughes.
The New Jersey Devils leading scorer had four points including two goals to lead his playoff-bound Devils over the Columbus Blue Jackets, 8-1, on Thursday at Prudential Center.
Hughes leads the team with 42 goals and pushed his point streak to five games (two goals, seven assists). He passed Dougie Hamilton in assists with his 53rd and leads the team with 95 points, all career highs. Hughes also picked up his 200th career point on the night and is now sitting at 203.
J. Hughes tallied his 41 goal for the season & became the 2nd youngest player in franchise history (21yrs, 327 days) who reached 200 career PTS:
— NJDevilsPR (@NJDevilsPR) April 6, 2023
Youngest: K. Muller, 21yrs, 255 days, 1987-88#NJDevils
Timo Meier had three points including two goals. Erik Haula and Ryan Graves each had two points with a goal and an assist. Tomas Tatar and Damon Severson scored. Severson's goal was short-handed.
John Marino had three assists. Nico Hischier had two assists to extend a five-game point streak (one goal, six assists). Jesper Bratt, Jesper Boqvist, and Michael McLeod also had assists. Bratt is on a four-game point streak (zero goals, four assists).
Joona Luoto scored for Columbus. Sean Kuraly and Eric Robinson had assists. Robinson is on a three-game point streak (two goals, one assist).
Vitek Vanecek made 16 saves.
Michael Hutchinson made 19 saves on 24 shots. Jon Gillies made eight saves on 11 shots.
Tatar had a first-period goal taken off the board due to a successful off-sides challenge won by Columbus. Later in the first period, the Blue Jackets had a play reviewed to see if they tied it at 1-1 but it was deemed no goal. The second-period goals by Tatar and Hughes occurred 1:00 apart inside the first 2:20. New Jersey had as many goals as Columbus had shots (four) in the third period. Marcus Bjork had a game- and career-high 16 penalty minutes and a game misconduct. Kevin Bahl also had a game misconduct. Graves played in his 300th career game and earned his 100th career point. New Jersey swept the season series 3-0 over Columbus.
#CBJ had dominated New Jersey for the past few years -- 19-4-1 since the start of the 2015-16 season -- coming into this year, and man, the Devils have really released that frustration. Combined 18-4 score in three games this year.
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) April 7, 2023
Goalie Carousel
The Blue Jackets set a franchise record on Tuesday when Jet Greaves became the sixth different goalie to appear in a game this season for the club. He did it in style, making 46 saves in the 4-2 loss, setting a franchise-record number of saves for a goalie playing in his first game with the club.
Better yet, it came against his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
So naturally, Greaves was sent back to AHL Cleveland on Wednesday. Gillies, who was the winner last time out on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators, winning his first NHL game in a year, and was subsequently sent to Cleveland after the win, was recalled on Wednesday.
Gillies was the backup to Hutchinson, the Blue Jackets' primary starter ever since he was acquired by trade from the Arizona Coyotes in March. Hutchinson's last game was against the Florida Panthers on Apr. 1, a 7-0 loss.
It was another lopsided affair as he allowed five goals on Thursday before being pulled in the third period for Gillies.
Gaudreau Leaves
Only playing 2:15, Johnny Gaudreau left the game in the first period due to illness. This led to Kent Johnson taking over on the top line with Boone Jenner and Kirill Marchenko (3:46, 5v5) but there was no offense from the line, snapping a two-game point streak by Johnson.
Luoto's First Career Goal
Luoto scored his first career NHL goal at 11:33 of the second period for Columbus in his fourth career game with the club.
#CBJ Luoto (1) goal pic.twitter.com/S0hzwvn5L3
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) April 7, 2023
Luoto is 25 years old and has played in 23 career games, including a stint with the Winnipeg Jets in 2019-20, so he's still classified as a rookie since he isn't 26 yet and hasn't played in more than 25 NHL games. The Blue Jackets came into the day leading the NHL in goals by rookies with 51 and second in points behind the Canadiens with 109.
Lady Liberty
The Blue Jackets host the New York Rangers on Saturday, April 8 at 7:00 pm ET at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets are 1-2-0 against the Rangers this season.
