Elvis Merzlikins earned his first shutout of the season with 24 saves Feb. 3 in Newark, New Jersey, backstopping the Blue Jackets to a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils to push their winning streak to a season-high six straight games.
Mathieu Olivier scored two goals and defenseman Dante Fabbro scored one in his return from a six-game absence for a foot laceration.
Fabbro’s goal put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 at 5:24 of the third period and Olivier scored the next two, making it 2-0 on a breakaway with 7:55 left and being awarded a goal with 4:00 left by outskating Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton to draw a slashing penalty while skating at an empty net.
Along with their winning streak, the Blue Jackets improved to 10-1-0 in their past 11 games and have a shot to make it 11-1-0 by winning a seventh straight to conclude a back-to-back against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 4 at Nationwide Arena.
The Blue Jackets briefly took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by Danton Heinen, but it was taken away after a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference showed that Miles Wood interfered with Markstrom after entering the crease on his own volition.
It stayed 0-0 through the rest of the first period, all of the second and five-plus minutes into the third before Fabbro finally broke through to put the Blue Jackets up 1-0 on his fourth goal of the year.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets blank New Jersey Devils for sixth straight win
Reporting by Brian Hedger, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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