The Devils came out strong, and thoroughly dominated Columbus early, as they outshot them 8-2 in the first period.
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“I feel good”, Johansen told the Columbus Dispatch. “We couldn’t contain it for the whole 20, but I thought after the first period, anyway, the compete was right and the battle was right”.
Referees upheld the goal despite replays that suggested Jenner may have made contact with Holtby as he made his first save of Calvert and attempted a second. “We can’t let (that) one break take the wind out of our sails”.
Hartnell’s snap shot from the left circle 5:09 later put the game out of reach, although Palmieri’s second of the season cut the deficit to 3-1 in the closing minutes.
Johansen is set to return to the lineup for Friday’s tilt against the Washington Capitals after missing a chunk of Columbus’s last road trip with a “mystery illness”.
Williams, a three-time Stanley Cup victor who signed as a free agent, opened the scoring in the second period with his second goal of the season.
They haven’t necessarily had trouble generating shots, averaging 30.3 per game, but cashing in on opportunities has been an issue. Their 6.9 shooting percentage matches the league low by Arizona last season and is a drop-off from Columbus’ own 9.6 mark. We certainly played hard.
As ugly as things looked during Columbus’ eight-game skid, the fact that this win over New Jersey wasn’t necessarily their best game speaks volumes. “We’re not looking for moral victories here, but we’re going to move by it and learn from it”. Pavelec is expected to get the start here with the Jets playing again on Sunday and he will match up against Sergei Bobrovsky who has started to play much better of late and will try to get the Jackets back in the win column.
“Good teams don’t lose two in a row”, said Williams, who has scored a point in five straight games. Defensively, the Columbus Blue Jackets are allowing 4.4 goals per game and are killing 69 percent of their power play chances.
The Jets figure to have Ondrej Pavelec back in net after backup Michael Hutchinson made a career-high 45 saves against the Blackhawks.
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Winnipeg has won three of the last four meetings.
