The final score doesn't exactly indicate it, but the New Jersey Devils played arguably their best game of the season tonight. After suffering a tough loss over the weekend to the Washington Capitals, the Devils dominated the reigning President's Trophy winners, the Colorado Avalanche, en route to a 4-3 victory at The Rock on Tuesday night. It was a complete team effort from start to finish, perhaps New Jersey's finest effort of the season, right up there with the 7-1 demolition of the New York Rangers last week .
Thanks to a swarming and aggressive attack that leaned more dump-and-chase than we've seen this season, a terrific commitment to team defense, and strong goaltending, this was a game New Jersey controlled for 55 minutes. The Devils outshot the Avalanche 15-4 in the first period and 17-9 in the second. At 5-on-5 through two periods, the Devils out-attempted Colorado 47-25, and won the Expected Goals battle 2.20-0.95 (69.80%). Aside from a Colorado flurry right at the start of the third period, New Jersey even dominated through much of the final frame as well. The score reached 4-1 before the Avalanche potted two very late goals (including one with 4.5 seconds left) to make the final score look close than the game played. But make no mistake, outside of Colorado's push in the final five minutes, the New Jersey was by far the better team this evening.
The Devils' fortune started turning before the puck even dropped tonight with the news that the lineup would be getting some reinforcements. After missing three games due to injury, Luke Evangelista drew back in. And good thing too, because I would argue that he was New Jersey's best player on the ice this evening. He scored the first goal of the evening, collecting a loose puck that Nico Hischier fought for, streaking in, and ripping a shot past old pal Scott Wedgewood to put New Jersey ahead 6:40 into the first. The goal was one of a whopping six shots on net this evening for Evangelista. He also assisted on Declan Chisholm's first goal as a Devil, which at the time gave New Jersey a 2-1 edge late in the second period. And aside from the points, Evangelista posted a killer 69.90 Expected Goals% at 5-on-5 tonight according to Natural Stat Trick. Overall, it was a triumphant return for Evangelista. He was one of the main characters of tonight's win.
Meanwhile, Connor Brown made his season debut tonight. After missing the first eight games with a lower-body injury, Brown took Amadeus Lombardi's spot on the fourth line with Cody Glass and Jesper Boqvist. Brown played 13:54 this evening, and while he didn't register a shot on goal, he did collect an assist on Boqvist's empty-net goal that staked New Jersey to a 4-1 lead with 3:55 left in the 3rd period. According to Hockey Stat Cards , Brown finished with a strong 1.41 Game Score, fifth-best among forwards this evening (Evangelista was first at 3.14 by the way, confirming he had himself a terrific game). I was a bit sad to see Lombardi draw out for Brown, as I think Lombardi was really starting to find his footing. But tonight, I can't argue with the results. Brown played a good game in his season debut.
Also, congratulations to Brown and his wife on the recent birth of their daughter Maeve!
I also have to shout out Jake Allen. His final numbers are good, but even these do not do him justice. Thanks to those two late Avalanche goals, Allen finished with 31 saves on 34 shots, good for a .912 save percentage. Prior to that, Allen wasn't tested often through 55 minutes, and certainly not much through 40, but when he was he was up to the challenge. The Natural Stat Trick numbers say that he was slightly in the red, allowing those three tallies on 2.77 Expected Goals. But considering one of those goals came in the garbagest (I'm making it a word) of garbage times, I'm throwing those numbers out and saying Allen had himself a strong game. Fitting on the night the Devils honored him for reaching 500 career games last week:
Elsewhere, I thought the rest of Evangelista's line had terrific games as well. Hischier got the primary assist on Evangelista's goal, added four shots of his own, and finished with a 71.43 xG%. Timo Meier was a force of nature all night long. He fired an incredible eight shots on net, and while he didn't collect any points for his efforts, I thought he imposed his will on the forecheck, in transition, at the net front, and battles along the wall. He even drew a penalty that the Devils didn't get a power play on because Chisholm found the back of the net during the delayed call. And while Chisholm's shot took a fortuitous bounce off of Brock Nelson's stick and in, it was Meier who swooped in to provide a flash screen on Wedgewood to help it cross the finish line. Meier was excellent tonight.
I also have to acknowledge Arseny Gritsyuk, who scored one of the prettiest goals of the year:
And mind you, those weren't just any defensemen that Gritsyuk beat. Those were Cale Makar and Devon Toews, two of the best in the world. And Gritsyuk absolutely flambéed them. The goal was huge because it gave New Jersey some much needed insurance early in the third period. And beyond the goal, Gritsyuk also finished with a stellar 78.99 xG% per NST, tops among forwards and second among all Devils behind only Jonas Siegenthaler. Gritsyuk has been given a huge chance to play with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt recently, and Gritsyuk has rewaded head coach Sheldon Keefe with some genuinely star-level play. He's been amazing.
I won't write about every Devil that I thought had a good game, because we'd be here all night, but suffice to say that just about everyone contributed this evening. Yes, the Avalanche played last night while the Devils were fresh, but we're still taking about a juggernaut team with players like Makar and Nathan MacKinnon at their disposal. Even with the rest advantage caveat, I am still quite pleased with tonight's game. The Devils didn't just get a lucky result in which they were outshot something like 40-15 but got all the breaks and won. They pounded the Avalanche from the jump, played their game, and took home a resounding victory, even if the final score doesn't indicate it.
A big worry this season has been that New Jersey is racking up wins against bottom-feeders while losing to all the good teams on their schedule. Well tonight they had a signature win against a truly elite team. For at least one night, things are good in New Jersey once more.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
The Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com
I mentioned that I thought just about every Devil had a good game tonight. One of the big exceptions, however, was Luke Hughes. Hughes has been great to start the season, but I thought tonight was his first real clunker. The numbers back this up. He did fire four shots on net, which is great, but he was held without a point this evening. And as far as his advanced numbers, Hughes posted an ugly 18.90 xG% at 5-on-5, worst among defensemen and second-worst among all Devils, ahead of only Jesper Boqvist. Hockey Stat Cards also wasn't impressed, tabbing Hughes at a team-low -1.94 Game Score.
I'm not too worried about it, every player has off games. In fact, just look across the ice at one of the best players in the history of the sport, Nathan MacKinnon. At 5-on-5, MacKinnon registered a paltry 35.27 xG%. His -1.84 Game Score almost exactly matched Hughes, and was the worst mark on the Avalanche tonight. If the mighty Nathan MacKinnon can look bad some nights, Hughes can as well. I have confidence that Hughes will bounce back soon.
Speaking of MacKinnon…
It's not that Nico Hischier has been struggling per se to start the season. It's just that he hasn't played up to his usual defensively impressive self.
But tonight was vintage Hischier.
To the surprise of no one, Sheldon Keefe hard-matched Hischier against the Avalanche's nightmare fuel of MacKinnon and Cale Makar. In 6:39 at 5-on-5 against MacKinnon, Hischier out-attempted him 17-8 and won the xG% battle to the tune of a 58.48 mark. In 6:30 against Makar, Hischier edged him out in shot attempts (11-10), and xG% (51.39%). As if that weren't enough, he also played 7:09 against Martin Necas (the most against any opponent), winning the attempts battle 10-8 and the xG battle at 60.33%.
And most importantly, the Devils outscored the Avalanche 1-0 when Hischier was on the ice against MacKinnon and Makar.
Tonight, as we have seen countless other nights in the past, Hischier went up against the best in the world and won. And that's why he has the Selke-level reputation that he does.
Since leaving the New Jersey Devils, goaltender Scott Wedgewood has been a gigantic thorn in his old team's side. Coming into tonight's contest, these were Wedgewood's career numbers against New Jersey:
Through much of this game, it looked like Wedgewood was going to steal another one. But in the end, the Devils did beat him for three goals, and while Wedgewood did still post a .925 sv%, I think New Jersey can be proud of the result they got against their nemesis this evening.
"1-0, Them" has become such a common occurrence over the last few seasons that it has become a bit of a meme amongst Very Online Devils fans. Memes aside, it has been a legitimately major problem, and something the 2026-27 Devils couldn't stop doing to start the season. But after conceding first for five games in a row to start the season, New Jersey has now scored first for four games in a row. Tonight's icebreaker came courtesy of Luke Evangelista, inserted back into the lineup after missing three games due to illness. And what do you know, the Devils won thanks in large part to playing from out in front to start.
Four out of nine is certainly better than zero out of five, but it's still not enough. The Devils need to keep starting strong and scoring first more often than not. Their season could depend on it.
In an interesting scheduling quirk, tonight marked the beginning of an eight-game stretch in which New Jersey will play entirely Western Conference competition. The Devils won't play an Eastern Conference opponent again until battling the Islanders on November 7. I have no idea how or why someone at the NHL head office decided to give New Jersey eight consecutive games against Western Conference teams, it's one of the strangest scheduling idiosyncrasies I've seen in a while.
The good news? The Devils actually played shockingly well against Western Conference foes last season, going 22-10-0 against them in 2025-26. After tonight, they are 2-1-0 against the west through the young 2026-27 campaign. Here's hoping they keep up their dominance from a season ago. If they do, New Jersey is going to skyrocket up the standings in short order.
The Devils are back at it on Thursday when they play host to the Anaheim Ducks. Puck drop from Newark is scheduled for 7:00pm.
What did you think of the Devils' effort tonight? Is this the best win of the season in your opinion? Who impressed you the most? Would you mix up the lineup next time out? What do you expect next time against the Ducks? As always, thanks for reading!
