After an impressive 7-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks from the night before, the New Jersey Devils went on the road to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets.

Jack Hughes got things started for New Jersey with an unassisted goal to take a 1-0 lead. Things started well early on for the Devils, even outshooting the Blue Jackets 16-9 in the first period. However, we have seen this script before where they go into a funk in the middle of the game, despite the good start.

"I didn't think we were near as sharp as we were in the first period (in the second)," Devils head coach Lindy Ruff.

The Blue Jackets scored three unanswered goals to strike back. Goals by Jake Christiansen, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Boone Jenner made it 3-1. Devils took some bad penalties which one of them led to Jenner’s goal.

"If we execute like the way we did in the first and finish we're going to win a lot of games," Ruff said. “There's going to be pockets of play that the other team is going to have a push and you got to play well defensively. We got burned on a couple goals, just individual mistakes, individual players getting beat. That happens."

But the Devils fought hard and tried to climb out of the hole. Nico Hischier scored in the second period and Pavel Zacha, who had been rumored to be possibly moved by the NHL trade deadline, scored his 13th goal of the season to make it 4-3. Ultimately, Patrik Laine had the game winner as the Blue Jackets are now 12-1-1 against the Devils in the last 14 games.

My Take: Nico Daws played well on the second half of the back to back. You can’t fault him for lapses on defense and he kept his team in it.

Jack Hughes extends his point streak to eight straight games. And he is only 20 years old. The Devils play the New York Rangers on Friday. Let’s see him make it nine!

The Daws Pound

Who let the Daws out? Ruff Ruff Ruff #NJDevils

— Sam Woo (@PrimetimeSamWoo) March 2, 2022

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Sam Woo is co-host and executive producer of the Let's Go Devils Podcast which can be heard live every Sunday at 9pm ET and Wednesday at 8:30pm ET.

You can follow Sam on Twitter: @PrimetimeSamWoo

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