The New Jersey Devils faced the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. In a chaotic match, they suffered their second consecutive home regulation loss, having previously avoided that fate all season. They fell 5-3.
Related: Monahan scores twice as Blue Jackets beat Devils 5-3
Brenden Dillon’s Milestone Night turns into drama
Tonight wasn’t just any game: fan favorite Brenden Dillon played his thousandth game. All Devils players took to the ice for warmups wearing “DILLON #5” jerseys. The sleeves said “1K”.
Unfortunately, his big night was cut short: just a minute into the second frame, Dillon went down while fighting Dmitri Voronkov. It looked ugly; he needed help getting off the ice.
Brenden Dillon had to leave the game in his 1,000th career game pic.twitter.com/5FP4UI3M0V
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 2, 2025
“There is no more honorable player in this league than Brenden Dillon,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “He would never do something like that to a player. I don’t like it. I don’t think Dilly knows he’s in a fight. He’s tackled from behind and before he knows it, his helmet is off, his jersey is over his head and you saw what happened from there.”
Chaos then erupted as the Devils defended their veteran on his milestone night. A total of 64 penalty minutes (PIMs) were recorded during this period: 36 for the Devils, 28 for the Blue Jackets.
Many fans compared the drama to a tough matchup in January 2024, when the Chicago Blackhawks and Devils went at it on Brendan Smith’s hit on Connor Bedard. That whole thing game had 64 PIMs… the total for just this one period.
Almost miraculously, Dillon returned late in the period and finished it off. But he never emerged again for the third period.
Luckily, Keefe said it was just a precaution. There doesn’t seem to be much concern.
Unusual rule hurts devils
In the midst of that chaos, a Jonas Siegenthaler fight against Adam Fantilli took place. While they both got five minutes for fighting, Siegenthaler got another ten minutes plus a game foul – a major blow to the Devils’ defense. There was some confusion at first, but here’s why it was thrown out:
Rule 46.13: A player who participates in a fight and whose jersey is not properly tied (jersey properly fastened to the trousers), and who loses his jersey (completely from his torso) in that altercation, will receive a
punishment for game misconduct.
After video review, it is clear that Siegenthaler broke the rule. As a result, they had to play against four defenders for most of the second period – and the entire third. That clearly hurt them.
More madness in Jersey: #NJDevils Jonas Siegenthaler is ejected for not having his fighting belt removed after a fight with Fantilli. Monahan got 2 for a high stick, Brown 2 for roughing and cross checking. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/W1XgDO9CWU
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) December 2, 2025
That said, if Fantilli were to receive an instigator penalty, Siegenthaler would not have been ejected. After the match, Keefe said: “Siegenthaler landed seven punches before taking off his gloves. So for me, that should have an extra penalty.”
Jake Allen wrestles
Jake Allen’s numbers show it is clearly was the Devils’ best netminder this season. However, tonight was a very tough performance for him. He stopped just 19 of 24 (0.792%) – minus 3.08 goals saved above expectations, per money bag.
The heartbreaking blow for the Devils came in the third when Allen mishandled the puck, which squirted to former Devil Miles Wood, who buried it.
After starting the season with five straight wins, he has now lost five of his last eight. In a strange way, it’s a positive sign for the Devils, in that — aside from Allen — they played better as a team than the score indicated. They certainly deserved to win.
A big focus was reducing the high danger chances, which they did tonight despite having too few players. The defense was responsible for only five major danger chances. Over their previous eight, they had conceded an average of 10.13 high-danger chances. That’s a big improvement.
Overall, the Devils generated 4.18 expected goals, compared to the Blue Jackets’ 1.92.
Come on
The Devils – now 16-9-1 – will return to action on Wednesday night as they stay home to take on the Dallas Stars (7:00 PM EST).
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