New Jersey Devils @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Season 25 12/31/25

 Happy New Year's Eve, 5th Line! 

Our Columbus Blue Jackets have won their last three games in regulation, and they'd look to keep the streak going tonight at home as the Devils come to Nationwide Arena from New Jersey! The shots on goal battle would end tied 10-10 at the end of the opening period, but the Blue Jackets would lead 1-0 on the scoreboard! At 6:18, Mason Marchment would score his third goal since joining our franchise, his eighth this season. He's played as a Blue Jacket for only five games, and tonight has done something no other player of ours has in the team's history: scored a point in his first five games, going 4-2-6. It just goes to show what a new city and teammates can do for a player. Kirill Marchenko adds assist number seventeen to his season on the primary, while Dysin Mayo gets his first assist in his first game as a Blue Jacket on the secondary! Congratulations to him!

Also, a huge congratulations to our Captain, Boone Jenner. With that assist on Mason Marchment's goal in period 1, in his 766th NHL Game, he now has 400 points! I feel like the career milestone happening on New Year's Eve just adds to the moment, too. He currently sits at (205-195-400!) 

The only downside to Period 1 was that we saw Miles Wood go down late. He had to be helped to the bench by fellow Blue Jackets and didn't return. I hope he's alright and wish him well. 

Period 2 would see the Blue Jackets fired up, and damn it's fun to see it happening more and more for this team! At 13:41, Charlie Coyle would make the cannon bang for the sixth time this season! Our Captain Boone Jenner gets his eleventh assist this season with the primary, while the secondary becomes Cole Sillinger's fifteenth this season. An exciting note on Cole Sillinger, he's now scored in the last three games, with an overall record of 1-3-4! Want another? The Blue Jackets won the shots on goal battle in this middle period tonight, 18-12! The score would be 2-0 Blue Jackets ahead of the final regulation period in 2025.  

Then...Period 3 would take a turn. Kirill Marchenko would take an early hooking penalty at 2:45, and the Devils would take their chance. Nico Hischier would add the power play goal to his season total, giving him eleven in all, at 2:49. Luke Hughes gets assist number seventeen of his season on the primary, while brother Jack Hughes gets his eleventh on the secondary. The goal on the board would boost the opposition's confidence, and that would result in them doubling up on the Blue Jackets at 3:44 after goal number eight from Arseny Gritsyuk would slip past Jet Greaves. Timo Meier adds his thirteenth assist to his season with the primary, while the secondary becomes assist number three this season for Jonas Siegenthaler. Luke Hughes would then give himself a multipoint night, adding a goal to his earlier assist at 4:45. This is his fourth goal of the season. Connor Brown picks up assist number eight of his season with the primary, and Ondrej Palat gets his sixth assist this season on the secondary. So, in less than five minutes, the Blue Jackets would go from up 2-0 to down 3-2. The Blue Jackets would push to score a tying goal, but it wouldn't happen. They'd lose this game to the Devils, 3-2, in regulation. The Blue Jackets would lose the shots on goal in this period, too, 11-7. It's the only period tonight they didn't lead in both score and shots, but unfortunately, the one that decided the whole game.

After a goal in Period 2, Charlie Coyle gets the Third Star of the Game. 

Jake Allen, the Devils' Goalie, gets the Second Star of the Game. He finished the night with a .944 Save Percentage after stopping 33 of our Blue Jackets' 35 shots on his visitors' net. 

The First Star of the Game would go to the only player with a multipoint night: Luke Hughes, who had a 1-1-2 night. 

Our next game will be Saturday afternoon, and it'll be the 2026 Kids' Takeover Game! The puck will drop at 3:00 p.m. as we host the Buffalo Sabers. I will be at work, so sadly, I won't be able to do a recap. However, we will play again on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. as we host the Pittsburgh Penguins, and I'm thrilled I don't work then because we all know that'll be a game, it always is! 

Go CBJ, and Happy New Year, 5th Line.  


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