Allen makes 45 saves, Devils hold off Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Jake Allen made 45 saves, including 23 in the third period, for the New Jersey Devils in a 2-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday.

Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt scored 39 seconds apart in the second period for the Devils (37-26-6), who have won four of five.

“We won, so that's all that matters,” Allen said. “Obviously, we don't want to be under that much duress. They were a desperate team and they threw everything they could at the net. We would have been doing the same thing if we were in that situation as well.

“Columbus, every time we've played them it's a tough game, especially in their building. I thought for the most part for those two periods it was a pretty solid effort. Obviously, the two late goals in the second was huge for us, and we grinded it.”

Mathieu Olivier scored in the third period to end a scoreless drought of 182:55 for the Blue Jackets (31-28-8), who have lost four straight and six of seven. Jet Greaves made 18 saves.

Despite the loss, Columbus coach Dean Evason was impressed by the performance.

“It was freaking awesome,” he said. “Did we get the result? No. Did we play the right way? Do we believe that this is the turning point? Do we believe that this, not only the (third) period, the game, turns us around and we're ready to go forward? Yeah, 100 percent.

“We had so many unbelievable opportunities. We played the right way, we played hard, we played disciplined, we played within the system structurally. We just didn't get the result.”

The Devils are six points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets remained two points behind the New York Rangers, who have played one more game, for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

“A desperate opponent coming at us,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They're real aggressive, lots of pressure, hard to make any real tape-to-tape passes in that environment, so you're under siege. But goaltending was terrific from Jake Allen.

“I thought the guys, despite giving one up, that's sort of the bend don’t break type mentality, and we earned two points off of that mentality.”

Meier gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 13:35 of the second period, skating past Dante Fabbro through the left circle before putting a backhand five-hole on Greaves.

Bratt extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:14. Greaves misplayed the puck being rimmed around the boards behind the net, resulting in it sliding out to Bratt, who shot into the open net before Greaves could get back into position.

“It's my job to stop it and keep the puck out of the net,” Greaves said. “It's too bad, but it's part of the game. Bounces happen either way. Just have to handle them and respond and just keep going.”

Said Bratt: “Our line did a pretty good job creating scoring chances. Definitely had some good looks before that, but sometimes you get those and you’ve just got to put those in too.”

Olivier cut it to 2-1 at 13:24 of the third, scoring from the low slow off a pass from Justin Danforth.

“You go through ebbs and flows in the year. Sometimes it goes in like nothing, and sometimes you're having a hard time scoring,” Olivier said. “It's just part of a long season. Unfortunately, our timing of not being able to score as much is a little tough, but obviously, we did the right things to score.

“It's going to come. This group still believes, and it's one game. Take the fluke goal out of the way, it's anybody's game. But we definitely put our best foot forward and had every chance to get this done.”

NOTES: Bratt (three goals, seven assists), Meier (three goals, one assist) and Nico Hischier (two goals, two assists) each extended his point streak to four games. … Meier tied Kevin Fiala and Nino Niederreiter (seven each) for the most 20-goal seasons by a Switzerland-born player in NHL history. … Bratt (20 goals, 60 assists) became the third player in franchise history to record consecutive 80-point seasons. The others: Zach Parise (2008-09 and 2009-10) and Wilf Paiement (1976-77 and 1977-78).