Blue Jackets use penalty shot to overcome Blackwood, Devils

COLUMBUS -- Cam Atkinson scored on a penalty shot, which became the game-winning goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 2-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Nick Foligno scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets (19-12-3), who won their second straight game and are 3-0-1 in the past four.
Bobrovsky has allowed four goals in those games.
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"All three zones were strong," Bobrovsky said. "We created some offense. Neutral zone was strong and D zone was strong."
Mackenzie Blackwood made 36 saves in his first NHL start, and Taylor Hall scored his 200th NHL goal for the Devils (11-15-7), who have lost three straight (0-2-1).
"To be honest, it's pretty disheartening when you play well and you're not able to get a win, especially for a guy like Mackenzie who's coming in his first [start] and played so well," said Hall, who played his 560th NHL game.
Blackwood, selected by New Jersey in the second round (No. 42) of the 2015 NHL Draft, made 16 saves in the first period when the Devils were outshot 17-5. He became the sixth goalie in NHL history to face a penalty shot in his first start. It was his second NHL game; he made eight saves on 10 shots in New Jersey's 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
Foligno made it 1-0 with his ninth goal and second in as many games at 4:17 of the first period with a back-door tap-in off a Pierre-Luc Dubois pass. Seth Jones kept the puck in the zone at the right blue line before finding Dubois open in the left circle after coming off the bench.

The Blue Jackets had six shots on their second power play late in the first, but Blackwood made six saves, five on Artemi Panarin, in 38 seconds.
Columbus was 0-for-4 on the power play and has one goal its past 23 attempts over seven games.
"One of the biggest problems with our power play is not winning face-offs," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "When we start winning face-offs, we had some zone time."
Atkinson made it 2-0 at 1:15 of the second period on a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by Damon Severson. It was his 20th goal of the season and his first successful NHL penalty shot in his second attempt.
He is the second Blue Jackets player with at least 20 goals in six straight seasons, joining Rick Nash, who did it eight consecutive seasons from 2003-04 to 2011-12.
Hall cut it to 2-1 at 10:39 of the second on a breakaway after a stretch pass by Kyle Palmieri split the defense. Bobrovsky went low and Hall shot high for his ninth goal of the season.

Blackwood made a save on Anthony Duclair, who was skating toward the crease, with 2:42 left in the third to keep it a one-goal game.
"The game came down to a goaltending battle and he certainly had a great performance," New Jersey coach John Hynes said. "That's what you need. You need goaltending like that to give yourself a chance to win. As the game wore on, he got better, and our team did as well."
The Devils had four shots in the final 1:55 with Blackwood pulled for the extra attacker, and Bobrovsky made three saves on Palmieri.

They said it

"He made some incredible stops and looked composed and poised in the net. To do that in the NHL net as a younger guy was impressive."-- Devils forward Kyle Palmieri on goalie Mackenzie Blackwood in his first NHL start
"They really do a good job trying to get guys to the net. They bring everybody there. We did a good job keeping them outside." -- Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno on the Devils

Need to know

Devils forward Marcus Johansson's seventh and last shift ended at 2:01 of the second period. There was no postgame update. … Hall has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. He had 132 goals for the Edmonton Oilers in six seasons and has 68 in three seasons with the Devils. … Palmieri has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past seven games. … The New Jersey power play is 3-for-24 in the past eight games. … Devils defenseman Steven Santini had a shot, four hits and a blocked shot in 12:25 of ice time in his first game since Oct. 20 when broke his jaw against the Philadelphia Flyers. … The Blue Jackets have killed 14 straight penalties over the past seven games. … Atkinson has scored 20 goals in his 33 games this season and is the second-fastest player to reach that number in Blue Jackets history. Nash did it in 31 games in 2003-04. … Columbus is 10-0-0, including 5-0-0 at home, on Thursdays. … Jones has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in the past 11 games. … Dubois has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 18 games.

What's next

Devils: Host the Ottawa Senators on Friday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSP, FS-O, NHL.TV)