After falling twice in Florida last week, the Columbus Blue Jackets righted the ship Sunday with a solid 7-3 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Blue Jackets were in New Jersey Tuesday to finish up their road trip, but they couldn’t overcome a three-goal deficit in the third period and fell to the Devils, 5-3.

The contest at Newark’s Prudential Center had playoff implications, as does almost every game in the Eastern Conference coming down the regular-season stretch. Had The Jackets won the game in regulation, they would have tied the Devils in the third spot in the Metro Division with two games in hand. With the loss, they are four points behind New Jersey and now in the second wild card position in the East.

The first period of the game Tuesday saw the Devils post three goals, including a score with just 1:09 left in the frame from Jesper Bratt. The Blue Jackets managed to cut the lead to one goal with two scores in the second period. Mathieu Olivier posted his 14th goal of the season, followed by one from Kirill Marchenko. It was Marchenko’s team-leading 25th goal of the campaign.

New Jersey retook a three-goal lead with scores from Timo Meier late in the second period and Luke Hughes just 26 seconds into the third. Columbus tried to climb back with a another goal from Olivier halfway through the third period, but couldn’t manage anything after that.

The Blue Jackets return home for games against Las Vegas Thursday and the New York Rangers Saturday. Both contests start at 7:00 p.m. at Nationwide Arena.