3 lessons from Devils’ disheartening 4-1 loss in Ottawa – The Hockey Writers New Jersey Devils Latest news, analysis and more

With their playoff hopes already slim, the New Jersey Devils headed to Ottawa hoping to get two points Canadian Tire Center for the second time this season. Unfortunately, a lack of offense came back to bite them when they fell 4-1.

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Special teams stop devils

In 2024-2025, head coach Sheldon Keefe called the Devils’ special teams his “baby” – their power play percentage (PP%) of 28.2 and penalty kill percentage (PK%) of 82.7 were second and third in the league, respectively. That is far from the case this season.

While their 22.2 PP% (11th in NHL) since Oct. 29 has been solid, it hasn’t been good enough to consistently save the Devils from rough, even performances like they did last season. Additionally, their 79.6 PK% was as average as it gets (16th in NHL).

Both percentages went down after a terrible showing tonight. The Senators scored their first two goals on the man advantage (2-for-3) and moved to 5-for-6 against the Devils at home this season.

To make matters worse, the Devils went a whopping 0-for-5 on their own. In simpler terms, last season their special teams goal differential was plus-25; this season it is plus-5. That doesn’t bode well for a team whose 1.93 goals per 60 at 5v5 is the worst mark in the NHL. (via Natural statistical trick)

State of Eastern Conference makes the devil’s life harder

While 95 points per season is generally a comfortable target to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference parity doesn’t do the Devils any favors. As it stands now, every playoff team in the conference is on track for more than 98 points.

After the Devils’ regular season loss tonight, they now sit in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, seven points behind the New York Islanders for third spot in the Metro playoff. They are even further away from the second Wild Card spot – nine points behind the Boston Bruins.

With just 58 standings points, the Devils would have to go about 20-6-1 the rest of the season to reach 99 points. Yes.

Timo Meier takes the monkey off his back

Since returning from a leave of absence in December to attend to a family matter, Timo Meier had not been quite himself; he had just two goals and two assists in 19 games – a ~73% drop from his previous production. That included zero goals in his last six games.

Set the clocks in Ottawa to Timo Time. pic.twitter.com/yCzthgFGfd

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) February 1, 2026

Ultimately, Meier’s quick release in the first period got past Senators netminder Linus Ullmark. Even with the man advantage, he seemed much more assertive and like he had extra pep in his step. The reason this is so important?

Particularly if Jack Hughes plays more games, one of the Devils’ only hopes of climbing back into the race is if Meier regains his game-changing form that we’ve seen bursts of, but not consistently enough. But when he gets going, he can reach a level of dominance that not many people can achieve.

Come on

The Devils – now 28-25-2 – will look to bounce back in front of a likely restless home crowd on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets (7:00 PM EST).