Columbus Blue Jackets @ New Jersey Devils: Season 25 2/3/26

The slow start would be worth the wait for us tonight in New Jersey, 5th Line. Period 1 would end with 7 shots on goal for the Devils, and only three for the Blue Jackets. Period 2 would end with ten shots on goal for the Devils and nine for the Blue Jackets. No goals would come from any of these! Although both goalies, Elvis Merzlikins for the Blue Jackets and Jacob Markstrom for the Devils, there wasn't much going on in this game until Period 3, when the Blue Jackets would come to life. 

With no assists on the goal, Dante Fabbro would finally break the 0-0 score at 5:24! Then, at 12:05, Mathieu Olivier would give the Blue Jackets a two-goal cushion with his seventh goal this season! Cole Sillinger gets the first primary assist of the night, and Boone Jenner gets the first secondary assist of the night, putting each man at nineteen this season. Then, towards the end of the game, things would get interesting in favor of Mathieu Oliver and the Blue Jackets! The Devils would bring goaltender Jacob Markstrom to the bench. Mathieu Oliver would go down the ice with the puck on his stick and be stopped by a Devils player, Dougie Hamilton. Due to the Devils player interfering with a breakaway toward an empty net, Mathieu Oliver would be awarded the goal he'd have scored had he not been stopped. So, Mathieu Oliver gets his eighth goal of the season, his second tonight, at 18:00! Charlie Coyle would record his twenty-fifth assist this season, the only one on this goal. This would bring the Blue Jackets to a 3-0 lead, and they'd hold back the Devils for the last two minutes of regulation! It's the first shutout for Elvis Merzlikins this season, going 24 of 24 for a perfect 1.00 save percentage! Rick Bowness is now 9-1-0 as head coach, with six of those wins in a row! 

The Third Star of the Game goes to Dante Fabbro for the first goal of the night in Period 3! 

The Second Star of the Game goes to Mathieu Olivier, who had the second and third goals tonight!

The First Star of the Game goes to our perfect goalie tonight, Elvis Merzzlikins, who finished with a 1.00 save percentage after going 24/24 in the visitors' net! 

We have one game left before the break for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and it's tomorrow night at home! We will drop the puck in Nationwide Arena against the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:00 p.m. Also, we're currently out of the second wildcard spot by just 4 points. So, although it's weird, 5th Line, root for the Pittsburgh Penguins to beat the New York Islanders in regulation tonight. If the Penguins can pull off that win in regulation, we'll only be 2 points (one win) out of the second wildcard spot! 

GO CBJ!!!!!!


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