The very exhausted New Jersey Devils entered Saturday’s matinee game against the Anaheim Ducks with the odds were stacked against them due to a plethora of injuries/absences. In a spirited effort, they surprised and strangled the Ducks by a score of 4-1.
Related: 4 different scorers earn Devils 4-1 win over Ducks
Back in the W column at home
After starting 9-0-1 at ‘The Rock’, the Devils dropped five straight games in regulation. Many of those largely non-competitive efforts had fans booing frequently.
Today the fans showed that their booing is not personal, but rather a direct response to the effort they are paying their hard-earned money for. As the Devils stepped up their game, the fans increased their energy.
“We didn’t play and got a great response from our fans [recently]” said head coach Sheldon Keefe.
He later continued: “It’s hard to overcome that once your fans start booing you. It’s quite difficult emotionally to overcome that within a game. But I saw today how quickly fans can recognize great effort, good team play and competitive guys, and then you can [energy from the fans] coming. Now they are a real factor and give life to the team and the game. And we cannot underestimate how important that is at a time when we need everything. We need every little bit we can get from every player [and] from our fans… I think there was a time in the first period, I could really feel for the first time in a while that we had gotten a positive response from the fans… that goes a long way for a team that’s trying to find a little bit more at a time when we’ve had a lot of injuries and the schedule has been very, very difficult.”
Contributions from irregular dot producers
It had been 30 NHL games and 1,356 days since Juho Lammikko – who had been playing overseas – recorded an NHL point. In his first 5:28 of ice time, he recorded two assists, including a sweet backhand dish to Stefan Noesen on the first goal.
Juho Lammikko’s sweet food leads to a tap-in from Stefan Noesen!
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Lammikko’s speed is above competition average, according to NHL EDGEStill, his inability to finish chances has left him out of the lineup more often than not. If he can turn that fortune around, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him become a key cog for the Devils in this stretch. By natural statistical trickhis expected goals of 0.87 per 60 minutes this season (ixG/60) is fourth on the whole team – ahead of guys like Nico Hischier (0.78), Arseny Gritsyuk (0.73), Jesper Bratt (0.65) and Dawson Mercer (0.52).
For Noesen it was only his second goal of the season (0.08 per game); This time last season he scored 0.41 per game – an increase of ~413%. While Noesen’s good start in 2024/25 may be an outlier, he is certainly capable of scoring more consistently. If this gets him going, it would be huge for the Devils.
In a similar vein, Paul Cotter went through a period where he scored once in 22 games. Now he’s found rope in each of his last three. Cody Glass, whose previous career-high was 14 goals, also scored one. He’s on a 23-goal pace this season.
Ultimately, they dominated the Ducks in scoring chances (27-20) and high danger chances (12-7), something they hadn’t done much of even when healthy. They also scored +0.75 goals above expectations. Although they previously struggled to capitalize on those opportunities, they did so today and were rightly rewarded.
Criminal killing is bouncing back
Going into the afternoon, since Brett Pesce went down on October 26, the Devils’ PK% at 66.7% ranked 31st in the NHL, barely ahead of the Seattle Kraken (65.5%). In their previous two games, they went 1-for-6 (16.6%).
Today they came back in a big way, negating all three minor penalties. They allowed just four total shots during those six minutes. Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes played nearly four each.
“When we’re short-handed, it often comes down to the second and third tries,” Keefe says. “There’s going to be mistakes and there’s going to be plays. It’s about the recovery and how you get back. I thought the way we got back in the lane to keep the puck, defended the net front, didn’t let them get the really dangerous closing shots, nothing behind the door – like all of that was really great, and if you do that, your penalty kill will have a good night.”
Honorable Mention: First goal allowed
For a sixth straight game, the Devils gave up the first goal. Their victory takes them to 7-11-0. When they Doing If you get the first count, it’s 11-2-1. It would benefit them if they started faster… but that’s essentially the only negative of one terribly positive day for them.
Come on
The Devils – now 18-13-1 – are back in action tomorrow when they take on the new Vancouver Canucks at The Rock (12:30 p.m. EST).
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