PREVIEW: Blue Jackets continue road trip with Sunday tilt in New Jersey

BLUE JACKETS (4-3-0) at DEVILS (4-2-0)

Then there were games against Detroit, Carolina and the New York Rangers, when the defense was a little looser and the opposition took advantage with both scoring chances and, eventually, goals.
In fact, over the last five games, those performances have altering, going, in order, Carolina, the Islanders, Carolina, Dallas and then a 4-0 loss Friday night against the Rangers.
GAMEDAY GUIDE: The CBJ lineup and more in today's gameday news
"I think there were shifts where we did some good things, shifts where we had some chances, but I think for the most part it wasn't to a standard we know we can play at," defenseman Zach Werenski said of that setback. "It seems like we're going one good game, one bad game, back and forth right now. We have to try to find some consistency moving forward."
In fact, head coach Brad Larsen in some ways agreed, immediately pointing to his team's inconsistency -- especially as it related to its defensive structure -- in recent games when addressing the media Saturday ahead of today's game against the Devils.
"We've been inconsistent in some of our structure stuff, and when we are, that's what happens," he said, referring to the loss to the Rangers. "You can see that we gave up too much, and you go back to the games where we played well against Dalas, the Islanders, against really good hockey teams, and limited what they got, it's because we were tight in our structure.
"The structure is in place for us to be predictable and play fast, shut them down, and it allows our speed to take over. When we freelance and one or two guys aren't on the same page, it feeds into the other team, and that's what happened to us last night."
So will the good version of the Jackets show up in Newark, just as Columbus has replied in the right way after losses to the Red Wings and Hurricanes? Time will tell but that's the hope, as the Jackets had a team meeting to go over some things Saturday before practice.
"This is a tough league and you have to be consistent," Larsen said. "There's no excuse with being youthful. We talked about finding the reasons why. You have to give them the solutions, and we addressed that today, and tomorrow hopefully we bring a better effort."

Know the Foe

This will actually be the Devils' sixth home game in seven to start the campaign, with the team playing its first road contest of the season last night in a 4-2 victory vs. Pittsburgh. New Jersey started with an overtime win over Chicago and beat Seattle before dropping a game against Washington. An overtime win over the Sabres followed before a setback against Calgary.
On the year, the Devils have scored 3.00 goals per game and given up 2.83. One thing that has hurt the squad is an injury to Jack Hughes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft who had two goals and an assist in two games before suffering a shoulder injury that will keep him out for at least a month.
The hope in New Jersey was the emergence of the team's youth -- including Hughes, 2017 No. 1 overall pick Nico Hischier and 2020 first-round pick Dawson Mercer -- would mesh with additions like star defenseman Dougie Hamilton, Tomas Tatar and Ryan Graves to produce a team capable of battling for a playoff berth.
There have been some decent signs so far, though the loss of Hughes has hurt the attack. With him out, Pavel Zacha leads the way in scoring in the early going with four goals among his five points, Andreas Johnsson had two goals against the Penguins to give him a 3-2-5 line, and Hamilton has a goal and four assists for five points. Mercer adds a 2-2-4 line, while defenseman Damon Severson has a goal and two assists and Tatar, Graves and Yegor Sharangovich each have three assists.
In net, three different players have started -- and that doesn't include Mackenzie Blackwood, who hasn't played because of a heel injury. Free agent addition Jonathan Bernier is also dealing with a lower-body injury, but he returned against Pittsburgh and is 3-0-0 with a 2.32 GAA and .923 GAA. Young German goalie Nico Daws is 1-0-0 in two starts with a 3.21 GAA and .875 save percentage, while Scott Wedgewood is at 0-2-0/3.45/.878.
Special teams-wise, the Devils have gotten off to a solid start on the power play at 20.0 percent, but the penalty kill has struggled mightily, killing at just a 73.9-percent clip.