COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Keith Kinkaid needed this kind of performance, just as the Devils need to know what they can expect from their backup goalie.
The Devils' season-high eighth straight loss certainly couldn't be pinned on a superb Kinkaid, who made 24 saves in a 2-0 defeat on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena as the Blue Jackets swept the home-and-home series following Sunday's 3-0 win at Prudential Center.
The Devils (25-29-12), opening a three-game road trip with their 10th straight game against a playoff-bound opponent, are in an 0-6-2 slide and have been shut out three times in the past four games.
Sergei Bobrovsky, the NHL's second star of the week, made 33 saves for the Blue Jackets (42-17-6) as he posted his third straight shutout.
Cory Schneider had started the previous six games for the Devils and Tuesday marked just Kinkaid's second start in a 16-game stretch.
"It's not easy," said Kinkaid, not on ice for Cam Atkinson's empty-netter at 18:44 of the third period. "It's my job. I've got to be ready whenever."
In his last start, Kinkaid surrendered six goals on 32 shots in a 6-4 loss to the Islanders at Barclays Center on Feb. 19 and acknowledged he never got comfortable in that game because of his lack of activity.
Tuesday, Kinkaid was finally beaten as Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his second goal in two games, lifting a shot from low in the right circle off Sam Gagner's feed from behind the crease at 9:39 of the third period.
"It's good for him to be able to get back in, particularly after the Islander game," Devils coach John Hynes said. "I thought, practice-wise, he's been able to get himself going.
"Keith had talked about that, the difficulty of not playing and things like that," Hynes added. "I think we learned a lesson from that. It's been two weeks since he played. It's an opportunity to get the same test again."
Kinkaid, 27, is an impending unrestricted free agent this summer as he completes a two-year, $1.45 million deal.
But with the Vegas Golden Knights joining the NHL next season, the upcoming expansion draft just adds another level to the Devils' decision of whether to try to re-sign Kinkaid.
NHL teams are permitted to protect just one goalie. Schneider and Scott Wedgewood, 24, a third-round pick in 2010 who battled Kinkaid for the backup role in training camp but who has played just 10 games for Albany (AHL) this season because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder that required surgery on Nov. 29, are eligible for the expansion draft.
Kinkaid came into Tuesday with a 6-7-2 record, a 2.81 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. His last win came when he made 35 saves in a 4-1 win at Philadelphia on Jan. 21.
Kinkaid had a strong first period as the Devils, who took a season-low 15 shots in Thursday's 1-0 loss at Washington and 17 shots in a 3-2 loss at Boston on Saturday, held a 16-9 shot advantage.
He stopped defenseman David Savard's backhander at the crease at 11:29, then got his glove on Scott Hartnell's quick shot from the slot at 14:48 and turned aside Lauri Korpikoski's two-on-one try from the left at 15:10.
Kinkaid came up even bigger when he stopped Atkinson at close range off an odd-man rush at 12:47 of the second period that developed with Brandon Dubinsky as Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nutivaara exited the penalty box.
Bobrovsky was beaten at 16:23 of the first period on defenseman Dalton Prout's shot from the left point that Taylor Hall deflected in the left circle. But Hall's stick was clearly raised above his shoulders and the play was immediately waved off. Prout was playing his first game at Columbus since the Blue Jackets traded him to Devils for defenseman Kyle Quincey at the NHL trade deadline this past Wednesday.
