The Devils will wear the Heritage jersey three more times this season against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, Jan. 10, the New York Rangers on Thursday, Jan. 31 and the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, Mar. 1.
2. The Devils penalty kill has been a strong suit through much of the season and that continued again on Sunday afternoon. In the first period alone, the Devils took two penalties and managed to hold the Blue Jackets from recording a single shot on both opportunities. The Devils penalty-kill, headed into Sunday's game, was ranked 9th in the NHL, with a 82.7% success-rate.
To put the penalty-kill success in perspective, through their last nine penalty-kill's, New Jersey has gone 8-for-9 and allowed just three shots on net.
3. By the end of the opening 20-minutes of play, the Devils and Blue Jackets had combined for just 11 shots on goal. New Jersey had seven, while Columbus had just four. The combined 11 shots are a season low for the Devils versus an opponent so far this 2018-19 NHL season.
4. It was a difficult afternoon for New Jersey's Keith Kinkaid as the ice appeared to be slanted in Columbus' favor. Kinkaid played just 30:47, replaced midway through the second period after giving up three goals on 11 shots against. For a sixth time this season, head coach John Hynes elected to make an in-game goalie change and a forth time in the Devils last five home games a goalie change has been made.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Goaltending change for the #NJDevils. Now in net is Mackenzie Blackwood. He comes in with just over 9 minutes to play in the second period. #CBJvsNJD pic.twitter.com/LMXf2qIg91
5. Mackenzie Blackwood replaced Kinkaid and played the remainder of the game. Blackwood made his NHL starting debut just three nights prior against the Blue Jackets in Columbus and faced them for a second time in his young career.
At home, Blackwood stopped every shot he faced, making nine saves in relief of Kinkaid.
6. Late in the second period, the Devils were awarded a 5-on-3 power play for 1:41, a chance to get themselves back into the game against the Blue Jackets. While the Devils controlled the zone for most of the two-man advantage opportunity, New Jersey was stonewalled by Bobrovsky. The Devils first power play unit of Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier, Kyle Palmieri, Brian Boyle and Will Butcher fired five consecutive shots at Bobrovsky but never saw the puck cross the goal line.
7. The New Jersey defense was pulling their weight in trying to get the offense going against the Blue Jackets. The blueline accounted for 20 of the 39 shots New Jersey fired at Sergei Bobrovsky, the Blue Jackets netminder. Every member of the Devils blue line recorded at least one shot on net.
8. Ben Lovejoy lead the charge with six shots on goal, a team high and matches a personal career high, which he has accomplished two previous times dating back to 2011.
9. Shut out by Columbus means the end of two scoring streaks for New Jersey.
Kyle Palmieri was riding a three-game point streak with one goal and four assists, while Taylor Hall's own three-game point streak of three goals and one assist came to an end as well.
10. The Devils will go into the holiday break with a 12-16-7 record after their loss to Columbus. New Jersey will next be on the ice in Boston against the Bruins, when the schedule resumes on December 27th.
