- The Matchup: Minnesota Wild @ New Jersey Devils
- The Time: 7:00pm EST
- The Broadcast: MSGSN, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
The Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 5-2 in Toronto last night. Sheldon Keefe finally defeated his former team. The Devils won their 5th game in a row. Jake Allen played fantastic. Jack Hughes scored a hat trick (and now has 6 goals in his last 3 games, to go with 8 points in his last 4). Jesper Bratt had 3 assists. Brenden “Bobby Orr” Dillon scored a goal! 10 different players registered a point. Toronto did have an early 1-0 lead, but the Devils tied it up, then quickly went up 2-1 with a PP goal on a foolish goalie interference challenge by Toronto and never really looked back after that.
Last Minnesota Wild Game
On Monday night, the Wild defeated the Rangers by a score of 3-1 at MSG. It was their first win in their last 4 games and their first on their current 5 game road trip. Danila Yurov scored his 1st NHL goal which also ended up being the game winner. The Wild we be looking to end their road trip with back to back wins before heading home for a 6 game home stand.
Kirill “The Thrill” Kaprizov
Back in September, Kirill Kaprizov signed an 8 year, $136 million contract extension. For those of you that are horrible at math, like me, that breaks out to $17 million AAV. As the kids might say today, Kirill got paid. Granted, his extension doesn’t start until next season, but he’s been explosive this season offensively with 5G, 5A, 10pts through his first 7 games. His worst season was his rookie year, with 51 points….in 55 games. However, he hit 96 points in 75 games in 23/24 and 108 points in his sophomore season. Long story short….Kirill is a game breaker and there’s a reason he has the nickname that he has. I’m surely stating the obvious, but the Devils will need to find a way to limit the damage he does tonight if they want to win.
The Return of Nico Daws…and maybe Stefan Noesen (again..)?
Since Jake Allen played last night against Toronto, Nico Daws will be playing the 2nd game of the back to back tonight against Minnesota. Tonight will be his first NHL regular season game since April 16th 2025, which ended in a 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. That was the final game of the 2024/25 regular season, and while they did lose, I wouldn’t use the loss as an indicator on Daws’ ability to win a game. Of the 12 Devils forwards that played in Daws’ last game, only 2 of them are on the current NHL roster; Dawson Mercer and Cody Glass. The rest were either traded, signed somewhere else or are currently in the AHL. A short list of former Devils from this game, says a lot about why they lost that night. Nathan Bastian, Erik Haula, Tomas Tatar, Kurtis MacDermid, Curtis Lazar, Nolan Foote, Justin Dowling, etc. Hopefully with a full NHL caliber team in front of him tonight, currently firing on all cylinders, Daws can get his first win of the season.
On Monday after practice, Amanda Stein reported that Stefan Noesen (would not) play in Toronto but mentioned that they would see about the second half of the back-to-back. As of this writing, after the Devils win over Toronto, there has been no update on whether Noesen will play against Minnesota. I would expect an update at some point today before puck drop. At the same time, I have no problem with the philosophy of “if it ain’t broke….”
Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker
I regret to inform you all, the faithful members of the Devils Nation, that Grimace has predicted a loss tonight. Yes, I’m sad too, but the win streak has to end at some point. At least, that’s what he told me to try and make me feel better about it. For the first time this season, I hope Grimace is wrong. I’m just the messenger here.
Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 5-0-0.
Your Take
Win or lose tonight, I’d like to see a strong game from Nico Daws (and the team in front of him). Allen is signed for a few more years and according to rumors, Markstrom may soon have a new contract as well. I’m not sure what the future looks like here for Daws (if there even is one), but for the time being he is their 3rd goalie. With current and recent injuries, it’s good, at a minimum, to know that you have someone that can step up while someone like Markstrom is out. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!