The Columbus Blue Jackets were in New Jersey Monday looking for an important win against a Metro Division foe. The Jackets had lost four in a row coming into their game against the Devils, three of those in overtime.

Like most NHL teams, Columbus has a number of key players out – Boone Jenner, Erik Gudbranson, Kirill Marchenko, and Mathieu Olivier. The loss of Olivier’s toughness may have had something to do with the way the contest in Newark played out.

New Jersey has been good at home this season, losing only once at the Prudential Center before Monday’s tilt. The Devils looked as though they were on their way to another home victory as they scored twice in the first 3:03. The first was on a power play goal from Nico Hishier, the second an even strength score from Ondrej Palat.

The Blue Jackets made it 2-1 midway through the first on a goal from Denton Mateychuk on a feed from Charlie Coyle. The only goal in the second period came from Sean Monahan and things went to the third all knotted up at 2-2.

During the second period, the gloves literally came off for both teams. All told, there were four fights and 64 penalty minutes combined in the frame. Columbus’s Adam Fantilli fought for the first time in his NHL career. Dmitri Voronkov went at it twice and newly signed Brendan Smith dropped the gloves as well.

In the first half of the third period, the Jackets scored twice. Coyle scored first, then Monahan coverted on his second goal of the game, his third in the Jackets’ last two outings. This happy turn of events, given recent history, also created the ominous feeling about how Columbus would deal with a two-goal lead in the third period.

That feeling grew graver when Timo Meier scored a power play goal for the Devils at the 11:51 mark. And then, perhaps the play people will identify as a change of fortunes for the Blue Jackets, came with 6:29 left to go in the game.

Coyle intercepted a pass along the right goal line and fed Miles Wood coming down the slot. Wood’s quick shot clanked off the net iron and into the net for a crucial goal. The Jackets fended off the Devils 6-on-5 attack for more than four minutes and came away with a 5-3 team win.

When asked about what was different in this third period, head coach Dean Evason’s curt answer was, “we scored and held the lead.”‘

Earlier in his press conference, he identified why he felt the team had come out on the winning side, “We got rewarded tonight with some breaks and some bounces and we stuck together, which we talked about before the game, and we got the job done.”

Columbus gets two days off before returning to the ice Thursday at Nationwide Arena to face the Detroit Red Wings. The Blue Jackets fell to Detroit, 4-3, in overtime at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 22. The puck drops Thursday at 7:30 p.m.