The New Jersey Devils withstood the Columbus Blue Jackets in their first matchup of the season by the score of 5-1.
Taylor Hall, my player to watch, opened the scoring in the first period with his 12th goal of the season. Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri had the assists on the goal. Jacob Josefson extended his team’s lead with his first of the season in the early portion of the second period. Captain Andy Greene had the only assist. Travis Zajac scored a power play goal in the late stages second the further the lead for the Devils with his 10th goal of the season. Adam Henrique and P.A. Parenteau had the assists.
Matt Calvert scored a shorthanded goal in the third period to avoid the shutout for his team. The shorty was his eighth goal of the season. William Karlsson had an assist on the goal.
New Jersey’s All-Star—Taylor Hall—scored his second of the game for his 13th goal of the season. Ben Lovejoy had the lone assist on the goal. Seth Helgeson brought his team to a four goal lead in the dying seconds of the game with his first goal of the season. Steve Santini and Adam Henrique had the assists.
Taylor Hall was my player to watch for New Jersey, and the All-Star showed his scoring talents tonight against Columbus with two goals. He was also a +1 with 8 shots on goal with 17:10 in ice time, and 1:55 of it was on the power play. Zach Werenski was my player to watch for Columbus, and with 23:03 in ice time, the rookie defenseman had three shots on goal.
Cory Schneider was impressive tonight for the Devils. He stopped 31 of 32 shots for a 0.969 save percentage (96.9%). Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 of 29 shots for a 0.862 save percentage (86.2%).
CBJ Three Stars of the Night
1. Matt Calvert – SHG (8)
2. William Karlsson – assist (13)
3. Sergei Bobrovsky – 4GA on 29SA (86.2 SV%)
Before I go, since the Devils played Columbus last night, the Devils made a trade. They dealt veteran winger Vernon Fiddler back to the team that helped him start his career—the Nashville Predators—in exchange for a 2017 4th round draft pick.
More to come…
Just a preview for tomorrow, I will talk about the Hershey Bears and St. Johns’ Ice Caps as I am attending the game this afternoon. I will also go over more rumors and one player that could make sense with Columbus.
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