Korpisalo, Blue Jackets defeat Devils for fourth win in row

COLUMBUS-- The Columbus Blue Jackets won their fourth straight game, defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.

"I give them credit," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said of his players. "They haven't been perfect, but they've been ready each and every night."
The line of Artemi Panarin, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cam Atkinson each had a goal and assist for the Blue Jackets (28-15-3). Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves winning his third start in a row for Columbus, which is 11-3-0 in its past 14 games.
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Blake Coleman scored, and Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves for the Devils (18-21-7).

New Jersey, which defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 8-5 on Monday, trailed 2-0 within the first three minutes and 3-0 in the first period.
"It was individuals more than it was the team," Devils coach John Hynes said. "It was just some individuals who were not ready to go and ready to compete at the level we need them to compete at, not necessarily the whole team, so we're going to have to meet and figure out where that occurred."
Atkinson scored 45 seconds into the first for a 1-0 lead with a redirect of a Dubois pass from the left half wall. Boone Jenner made it 2-0 at 2:28 from the slot off a centering pass from Josh Anderson.
"We got behind the eight ball early with plays that shouldn't have happened," Devils forward Brian Boyle said. "You want a few shifts at least where you can sustain some offense, get some chances, zone draws and make them ice the puck. I don't think there was quite enough of that."

Panarin extended his goal streak to four games at 17:20 off a pass from the left corner by David Savard to make it 3-0.
Panarin has seven points (five goals, two assists) in the past three games and 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in the past 12 games.
Tortorella said Panarin, who has 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) and can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, has not been distracted by his contract situation.
"He approaches the game as he always has," Tortorella said. "For a little bit here, he had a little bit of a dip as far as winning the battles where we're so accustomed to seeing him win most of his battles.
"He's found it again. I just think he enjoys playing. I believe him. I don't think he knows what he's going to do, but we can't do anything about that. We're just going to go about our business."
Dubois extended the lead to 4-0 on the power play at 1:45 of the second period, after Korpisalo made a save on backdoor shot by Boyle on a Devils power play.
"I'm pretty comfortable," Korpisalo said. "The way we're playing right now it's pretty easy to play behind them. Today I don't think there were really any dangerous shots. They just cleared the pucks in front of me, blocked shots, which made me confident."

The Devils scored at 18:24 of the second period to make it 4-1. Coleman deflected a shot by Mirco Mueller to extend his NHL career-high point streak to five games (five goals, two assists).
"He's the same player every night," Hynes said. "He's really playing to his identity, which is, he's fast. He's tenacious on the puck in the scoring areas. He's made a strong niche for himself on the penalty kill, so he's been able to gain some momentum that way."
Tortorella became the Blue Jackets leader in games coached, passing Ken Hitchcock. Tortorella is 157-102-26 in 285 games with Columbus.
"I've enjoyed coaching here and enjoyed getting the opportunity to get about the business again," he said. "My wife and family love it here. We feel very fortunate to be coaching here."

They said it

"I don't think we can paint the picture of this whole game as negative. The first 10 minutes were unacceptable, unacceptably by some certain players, not necessarily the team." -- Devils coach John Hynes
"They played a heavy game against Chicago last night that they won. We know back to back isn't the easiest thing in the world to play in, so we had to press them." -- Blue Jackets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois

Need to know

Devils forward Miles Wood (lower body) did not play after being injured in the third period Monday. Blake Pietila replaced him and had two hits in 9:38. ... Atkinson has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Dubois has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in the past 13 games.

What's next

Devils: At the New York Islanders on Thursday (Nassau Coliseum; 7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Friday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)