The Blue Jackets record now stands at 28-20-7 with 63 points. They're currently 4th in the Metro, 9th in the East, and 14th in the league.
Dante Fabbro(4) and Mathieu Olivier(7,8-AWD-ENG) scored the goals for Columbus, while Elvis Merzļikins completely shut down the New Jersey Devils, making 24 saves to pick up his 11th win of the season and first shutout.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are officially a hot team. The boys from Irish Broadway have now won 6 straight games, 9 of 10 under new Head Coach Rick Bowness, and 10 of 11 overall.
This wasn't the prettiest game, with both teams generating hardly anything on the offensive side of the puck. But Dante Fabbro changed that five minutes into the third when he ripped a puck past Jacob Markstrom to give the Jackets the lead. It's a lead they would never relinquish.
Mathieu Olivier scored seven minutes later on a breakaway, and then again with an empty net to give the Blue Jackets the victory. Olivier's second goal was an awarded goal because he was slashed when he was just about to fire the puck into the empty Devils cage. The ref saw it and gave Olivier the goal. That's one of the more underrated rules in the league.
Elvis Merzlikins earned his 11th win and first shutout of the season and had to make some really good saves to do it. Sure, the Devils hit a few posts, but that's why he talks to them before every game.
Quotes
Sheldon Keefe said of his struggling Devils after the game: "It's part confidence, it's partially mental toughness. We're not mentally tough enough, clearly. These are critical moments in our season. Go back to Ottawa, same thing. Critical moments. You can show what we're capable of in the first period ...guys stick to a plan. We're right there. You give up three shots on goal; you gotta be able to make a play to get the lead. You don't, OK, you're gonna hang around. Well, you gotta find a way to make a play. Get yourself a lead. Get going. Well, OK, you don't, but don't wilt. You got to stay with it. You gotta get to overtime, get the extra point. I said it a lot last season, and it's showing up again ...whether it's just mental toughness and conditioning, physical toughness and conditioning, we're wilting in these situations. It's just not good enough.
Dante Fabbro on his injury and the game: "Yeah obviously when it first happened I didn't know if it was going to be 2 weeks or out for the season, so obviously very thankful that you know I'm healthy again and able to play this year and obviously getting to see sitting out and seeing the boys obviously doing what they're doing right now is amazing. Big credit to them for getting us back in this race."
Mathieu Olivier on the game: "You know, we just try to stick to our game plan all game, and we gotta give them credit ‘cause there wasn’t a lot of space out there. They played a heck of a hockey game, and you know it was just so so tight out there, and everything was really hard to come by, so every little detail mattered, and fortunately, in the end, we ended up getting the job done."
Elvis on the shutout: "I don’t remember when it was last, one last year. Yeah, no, obviously it feels good. Obviously, for the team it feels good and as well self-feeling, especially now going to the Olympics it is gonna be a good feeling for myself and just you know get ready, get ready for the big show where I was dreaming all about. I mean, yeah, it’s definitely easier. We are putting the pressure a lot more on the opponents, and we’re cleaning more in front of the net. Us together, me and Jetty we see more pucks, and I think it makes our life easier, and the guys are you know just the change itself we just made a little like kicking our butt, I would say, you know, a new energy. So it’s just a new thing, new things that we’re doing on the ice is different, you know. So it’s again, it’s new energy, so it gives us an advantage as well in that."
Final Stats
CBJ APPPlayer Stats
- Dante Fabbro scored his 4th goal of the season, had 3 shots, and was a plus-1.
- Mathieu Olivier scored his 7th and 8th goals of the season. He was also a plus-2.
- Zach Werenski recorded his 42nd assist.
- Charlie Coyle picked up his 25th assist and went 10/14 on faceoffs.
- Boone Jenner got his 19th assist and had 3 shots.
- Cole Sillinger recorded his 19th assist.
Team Stats
- The Jackets power play went 0/2.
- The Columbus PK stopped all three Devil man advantages.
- Columbus only won 53.8% of the faceoffs - 28/52
- The Blue Jackets had 19 hits and 13 blocks.
Up Next: Columbus is back home to play the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. It's the last game before the Olympic Break.
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