Devils, Blue Jackets combine for 64 PIMs, four fights in second period

It was a feisty 20 minutes between the Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils.

The two teams combined for 74 penalty minutes on the night, including 64 in the second period alone.

The damage began early in the middle frame, when a melee broke out following a power-play scoring chance for the Blue Jackets. Brenden Dillon and Dmitri Voronkov dropped the gloves for a quick-and-dirty scrap, each coming away with five-minute majors for fighting. Dillon, who was playing in his 1,000th game, was injured in the fight and didn’t take a shift in the third period.

Three minutes later, Adam Fantilli and Jonas Siegenthaler joined in on the extracurriculars with their own spirited tilt, for which Siegenthaler received a 10-minute game misconduct for a jersey infraction in addition to the five-minute fighting major doled out to both himself and Fantilli.

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The madness continued about six minutes later, when a pair of fights broke out between Voronkov and Devils forward Stefan Noesen, and between Blue Jacket Brendan Smith and Devil Paul Cotter.

In total, officials doled out eight fighting majors, as well as three two-minute minor penalties for roughing in the dying moments of the second period.

Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed in the final period, with just one two-minute minor for slashing given to Cole Sillinger.

The Blue Jackets ultimately went on to win 5-3 as Sean Monahan scored twice to help his team overcome an early two-goal deficit, snapping a four-game skid.

Charlie Coyle scored the go-ahead goal 6:40 into the third period and added two assists for the Blue Jackets, who were 0-1-3 in their previous four games. Miles Wood had a goal and an assist, and Denton Mateychuk also scored.

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Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves, and defenseman Zach Werenski had two assists.

Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who opened a 2-0 lead 3:03 into the game. It was Meier’s 10th goal of the season and fifth in the last six games.

Jesper Bratt had two assists for the second straight game, and Hischier had one to give him 12 points in the past six games. Jake Allen stopped 19 shots.

New Jersey (16-9-1) was handed its second consecutive loss in regulation at home after starting 9-0-1 at the Prudential Center this season. The Devils missed an opportunity to move ahead of Carolina for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Columbus (12-9-5) improved to 5-5-2 in the past 12 games and climbed out of last place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the New York Rangers.

Monahan scored on a power-play wrist shot at 7:14 of the third, assisted by Isac Lundestrom, to put Columbus up 4-2.

The Blue Jackets won 62.3 per cent of the faceoffs in the game.

Up next

Blue Jackets: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Devils: Host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

— with files from the Associated Press