Especially when battling along the boards. Bad Seth Jones did not have the best first period. He had a few bad passes and even biffed it around the edges when going to gather the puck. The Devils scored their first goal of the night around eight and a half minutes into the game.
However, Jones could have cut back while Taylor Hall was dragging his stick from the top of the faceoff circle to the dot where the shot was launched from sailing directly past Jones. On the flip side, Jones did help Joonas Korpisalo out in a big way when there was around left in the first period. So, I guess we could say Jones played badish. Ugly The Jackets power play might be the ugliest thing I have seen in a long time.
For around four and a half minutes, the Jackets had the man advantage. Due to Devils inability to play a disciplined game, the Jackets ended up with a 5-on-3 twice. Astounding The first period gets an extra special category courtesy of Korpisalo and his cat like reflexes. Roll that beautiful goalie footage.
With left in the period, Korpisalo pulled out another stellar save. This time it was on Hall after Riley Nash turned over the puck below the offensive zone blue line. Also, Vladislov Gavrikov had a nice second period. It seems as though he really enjoys leaning on the opposition along the boards until they cough up the puck.
Although, Gavrikov needs to keep an eye on his stick. Had he controlled the stick a highsticking penalty never would have happened. Bad With left in the second period, Alexandre Texier picked up a rebound and shot it into the net. Unfortunately, thanks to Pierre-Luc Dubois, the goal was waved off for incidental contact. Granted, Damon Severson backed into Dubois as he was cutting through the crease causing contact with Schneider to happen.
They will also play the hot hand in Cory Schneider who is coming off a shutout on Saturday. If the Devils win tonight, it will be interesting to see who starts on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks at the Prudential Center. Defensively, Pete DeBoer will roll with the same 6 defensemen. It is tough to make a solid argument against DeBoer coming off of a shutout win. If that means benching Adam Larsson for the immediate future, then so be it.
Columbus is also trying to turn its season around after a big win over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. Sergei Bobrovski, reigning Vezina Trophy winner, sat out on Sunday and will look to snap a personal 4-game slide. They have also given up 2 shorthanded goals.