Thank You, Jake Allen. Devils Escape Columbus on Back of Goaltending Heroics

The entire New Jersey Devils roster owes Jake Allen quite the steak dinner.

On the back of an incredible goaltending performance, the Devils escaped the Columbus Blue Jackets’ late onslaught in the third period after nearly forking over their two-goal lead.

Whereas the Devils got off to a hot start in their last meeting with the Blue Jackets, Columbus was far more prepared at the start of Monday’s tilt. The Devils chased Columbus through the first five-plus minutes before Nico Hischier drew a penalty on Denton Mateychuk for holding. Despite creating three scoring chances on the man advantage, Jett Greaves prevented New Jersey from converting on the man advantage.

After a close-knit opening 20 minutes, the Devils and Blue Jackets went into the first intermission scoreless.

Through the first half of the second period, things picked up where they left off in the first. New Jersey was happy to let the Blue Jackets accrue low-danger, perimeter shots on goal, knowing Jake Allen was there to make a save.

As a result, Columbus held an 8-2 shot differential in the second period through 10 minutes.

However, that didn’t last long as Timo Meier drove to the Columbus crease with the puck on his stick, and slipped the puck through Greaves’ pads, after making a power move to the net, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead.

Coming off a nine-point week, Jesper Bratt doubled the Devils’ lead, scoring his 20th goal of the season after Greaves mishandled the puck behind his own net.

Opposed to their first 40 minutes, the Blue Jackets made quite the push in the third period. Through the first five minutes of the last frame, Allen was forced to make 10 saves across seven scoring chances in the first five minutes of the period.

Eventually, the Blue Jackets pressure became too much as New Jersey took their first penalty of the game as Curtis Lazar was called for holding Dmitri Voronkov.

The Devils were able to kill a Blue Jackets power play that certainly created opportunities. Yet, Mathieu Olivier cut the Devils’ lead in half moments after the penalty expired, breaking Allen’s shutout bid at 13:24 of the third period.

However, Columbus’ pursuit of the game-tying goal didn’t end there.

The Devils heavily relied on Allen for the remainder of the third period. With the clock winding down in the final minutes, Columbus pulled Greaves for an extra attacker. The Blue Jackets again peppered Allen until the final buzzer sounded, and the Devils walked away with a 2-1 victory.

In the third period alone, Jake Allen made 23 saves on 24 shots—45/46 saves total—making 3.25 saves above expected.

After defeating the Blue Jackets and with the New York Rangers idle on Monday, the Devils regained an eight-point lead on third place in the Metropolitan Division.

For more Devils news, visit New Jersey Hockey Now, subscribe to our YouTube and like our Facebook page.

Follow us on 𝕏:

@NJDHockeyNow, @JamesNicholsNHL, @NickNatale10

And on Threads:

@JamesNicholsNHL