In addition to the already tight standings, Tuesday evening’s game had some extra importance for the New Jersey Devils; John MacLean, who played for the Devils for fourteen seasons and won a Stanley Cup with them, was inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
With a ton of franchise legends in the building, the Devils’ late showing wasn’t enough to overcome sloppy play as they fell to the Winnipeg Jets with a score of 4-3.
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Ondrej Palat left out of the lineup, dealt halfway through the match
All the pre-game celebrations aside, there was a bigger elephant in the room: Devils’ forward Ondrej Palat was held out of the lineup for “roster-related reasons,” and subsequently traded to the New York Islanders. The news broke midway through the first period.
TRADE: #Islands acquire Ondrej Palat, a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick #NJDevils for Maxim Tsyplakov
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) January 28, 2026
After the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe said: “It’s a challenge, but it’s part of the business. It’s part of the deal. We’ve got to keep going… [with] That said, we’re going to miss Pally. He’s a great guy, a great leader, and often sets the example when it comes to hard work and competitiveness in practice [and] games. Some or a large part of it is not on the scoresheet. That made it difficult for him here. For a team trying to get there, he’s a guy who’s been there, done that and leads by example in a lot of ways.”
Goaltending should save defensive problems
During the Devils’ three straight road trip wins, they allowed four 5v5 goals on 5.55 expected goals, meaning their goaltenders retired plus -1.55 above expected, per Natural statistical trick. But their defense was looking too a lot of better – their 2.20 expected goals against per 60 (xGA/60) was significantly better than their average of 2.74 xGA/GP. (~20% improvement)
With a chance to complete the road trip, they responded in Seattle by allowing just 0.99 expected goals, but Jacob Markstrom retired at 2.01. below expected. Sure, there were occasional defensive lapses and mistakes, but the clear difference between the Seattle games and the rest of the road trip was the goaltender’s ability to save the defense.
Likewise, the Devils defense allowed just 1.59 expected goals against the Jets tonight. Per 60-year-olds, that was better than their seasonal average. But Allen couldn’t make any big saves and allowed four goals (2.41 below expected).
Give me fuel, give me fire, give me a NINO ONE-TIMER 💥 pic.twitter.com/OtxFzkonJ7
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 28, 2026
In simpler terms, in the three road games won, Devils netminders had a save percentage of .914 (SV%). In the two since then, they have an SV% of 0.841.
While the savings rate doesn’t always give the best picture, it raises eyebrows when the difference is so staggering. That said, the goalkeeper’s inability to make key saves shouldn’t leave the defense completely without mistakes:
On multiple occasions tonight, the Devils had defensive breakdowns that led to eccentric rushes. “Today’s game would require extreme focus, dedication, discipline, structure and all that stuff that came from a road trip,” Keefe said. “We just didn’t have it, and all the things that were the foundation for us to win on the road just weren’t there today… can’t top your issues.”
Cody Glass hurt in second period
Later in the second period, Cody Glass took a hit in the leg and immediately fell over in pain. After limping to the bench and hanging out in the tunnel area for a while, he went all the way down and didn’t come back.
After the game, Keefe said: “Obviously he can’t finish the game… he’s going to have to undergo further testing to know exactly what’s going on.”
Cody Glass along the #NJDevils tunnel in a lot of pain after blocking a shot pic.twitter.com/2zqSK3bApn
— Daniel Amoia (@daniel_amoia) January 28, 2026
Losing Glass for an extended period of time would be a huge blow to the Devils, as he had been arguably their most popular player in recent weeks.
Come on
The Devils – now 27-24-2 – will look to bounce back as they stay home to face the Nashville Predators on Thursday night (7:00 PM EST).
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