The New Jersey Devils conclude a season-opening three-game road trip when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.
The Devils split the first two games, losing at the Carolina Hurricanes in their opener before posting a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
Columbus plays its home opener after losing 2-1 at Nashville before beating the Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday.
Connor Brown, who signed a four-year contract with New Jersey in July after playing the past two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, scored twice for the Devils against the Lightning.
“It’s obviously nice to contribute early in the season,” Brown said. “I thought it was two great plays by (linemate Arseni Gritsyuk). I thought we had some good chemistry … me, him and (linemate Cody Glass), so it was a fun night.”
Nico Hischier and Timo Meier each had a goal and assist, while Luke Hughes and Gritsyuk each had two assists for the Devils. Jacob Markstrom made 14 saves. Hughes has tallied four assists in two games.
New Jersey jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off a Tampa Bay rally that cut it to 3-2.
“Really good start, good effort from our guys to take a hold of the game and you know Tampa is going to have their looks and have a push,” said Devils coach Sheldon Keefe. “The way we came out in the third period…there’s so many things that could’ve gone real bad for us today. The guys just dug in.”
New Jersey played without forward Evgenii Dadonov, who has a fracture in his hand after blocking a shot in the season opener. He will miss Monday night’s game and will be evaluated once the team returns home.
Meanwhile, Kirill Marchenko scored a hat trick and Elvis Merzlikins made 48 saves for the Blue Jackets against the Wild on Saturday.
Zach Werenski and Boone Jenner each had a goal and two assists. Jenner’s goal was the 200th of his NHL career. Adam Fantilli also had a goal and an assist for Columbus.
“We really liked our composure,” said Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason. “Maybe I didn’t hold it as well as the players did, but they did a real good job of holding their composure, certainly early in that hockey game when we could have gone sideways when they scored their first two.”
The 25-year-old Marchenko broke a 2-2 tie late in the second period en route to his fourth NHL hat trick.
“I can score more. Just shoot the puck,” Marchenko said. “It’s not really hard work. I just work on my shot and my partners make great passes too. And I try to do my best work.”
Werenski recorded his 80th career multipoint game, just one behind Jenner for the third-most in Blue Jackets history.
Columbus won despite allowing four goals on eight Minnesota power plays.
The Devils took two of three versus the Blue Jackets last season, including a 2-1 win at Columbus on March 17.
–Field Level Media
