The injury-depleted New Jersey Devils headed to DC on Saturday night to take on the Washington Capitals. Thanks to a Simon Nemec shootout winner, she defeated the Caps 3-2 for a second straight win to start their road trip.
Related: Devils survive Capitals comeback attempt in 3-2 shootout win
Finding ways to win
Since 2022-23, the Devils have played 44 games without Jack Hughes. They’ve gone 18-23-2 in that, which is clearly not ideal. If they want to overcome the absence of their star player (and other absences), they will need to put in consistent 60-minute efforts.
But something sets this team apart from previous Devils teams: Even if they don’t give up a full 60, they are still find ways to win. They left eight key players behind and were outscored by Washington 15-24, but held the fort down enough to push to overtime.
From then on, they played a responsible but confident extra session – a certain improvement from last season when head coach Sheldon Keefe said they played too risky at times in the extra session. While they couldn’t find any rope there despite beating the Caps 7-2, they were able to take home the second point in the shootout.
It’s truly remarkable that, despite all these injuries, the Devils are now 13-4-1: first in the Metro and second in the league.
“I don’t think it’s a statement game… we’ve been making statements all year,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said on the MSG broadcast.
Three defenders continue to step up in the wake of injuries
After an exciting hat trick in Chicago, the story surrounding Nemec became simple: How on earth can he get out of the lineup when the team is fully healthy!?
While the Devils won’t have to deal with that (good) problem anytime soon, Nemec stepped up again when called upon in the shootout and delivered to seal the win.
SIMON NEMEC BACK TO BACK GAME WINNING GOALS FOR THE DEVILS 🤯🚨 pic.twitter.com/YXMVxnkfOH
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 16, 2025
While Nemec certainly played a big role in the team’s ability to overcome injuries, he wasn’t alone. Tonight, against a very good Caps team, the combination of Dennis Cholowski and Colton White were rock solid.
The duo excelled at shutting out the Caps’ chances and made things very easy for Jake Allen. According to Moneypuckin 10:43 of combined ice time, they allowed just 0.36 expected goals and most importantly, zero goals against.
“If you can’t get it, you don’t have a chance [good] minutes from guys like that,” Keefe said.
Luke Hughes settles in
With Nemec’s recent resurgence, Luke Hughes was moved back to the second man advantage unit. While some players could have let that take them mentally out of the game, Luke did the opposite.
Late in the first inning, he scored his first goal of the season after crossing the blue line and ripping a wrist. He was all over the place tonight, leading the Devils in shot attempts and fourth in scoring chances created (first among defensemen).
Aside from a hiccup that led to a highlight-reel goal in Chicago, he defended much better overall, prompting Keefe to give him 18:25 of equal ice time — nearly two minutes more than any other Devils skater (Jonas Siegenthaler, 16:30).
There is no denying that Hughes has the skills to be one of the best defenders in the league. If this goal opens the floodgates for him, this is an excellent time to do so.
Come on
The Devils return to action on Tuesday as they head south to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:00 PM EST).
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