On the second half of a back-to-back, the New Jersey Devils went into Edmonton and came away with a 2-1 victory. Arseny Gritsyuk and Cody Glass were the goal-scorers, while Jake Allen was terrific in net with 22 saves on 23 shots. It was a pretty low-event game overall, which is impressive considering the best player on the planet, Connor McDavid, was on the other side. The Edmonton Oilers did not have Leon Draisaitl available to them, as he is currently back home in Germany attending to a personal family matter. Still, shutting Edmonton down sans-Draisaitl isn’t easy, and credit must be given to New Jersey for finding a way.
Let’s go through it.
First Period
Because tonight’s game was part of a TNT national doubleheader, and the first game (Boston vs. Dallas) ran long, the puck didn’t drop in Edmonton until 10:22pm ET. Kill me now.
Once the game finally began, the Devils were on the front foot through the first few minutes of the game, but didn’t have any shots to show for it. As a matter of fact, at the first media timeout, shots were 2-1 in favor of Edmonton. It was a sleepy start to this very, very late game.
Around the 10-minute mark, the Jack Hughes line put together a terrific shift where they put the Oilers in a blender for about a full minute. But despite all the zone time and crisp passes and battles won, they couldn’t actually put any shots on net. That was New Jersey’s problem through the first half of the opening frame: They were outskating and outplaying the Oilers, but Edmonton was blocking every shot the Devils mustered, rendering all that territorial domination moot.
That changed with about 8:30 left when Cody Glass gained the zone and drew Oilers defenders to him on the near wall. He found Brett Pesce darting toward the net on the weak side and fed a terrific pass his way for the first premium scoring chance of the night for New Jersey. Alas, Pesce couldn’t beat Tristan Jarry and we remained scoreless. Hey, at least it was a shot that actually made it to the net. Progress!
A minute and a half later, the Oilers had their first good shift of the evening when they pinned the Nico Hischier line in and registered a couple shots on net. They were reasonably dangerous, but Jake Allen answered the call on each of them to bail his team out.
With 2:49 left, the one and only Connor McDavid cut into the zone on a rush up ice, and Johnny Kovacevic laid a moderately big hit on him in the slot. Vasily Podkolzin IMMEDIATELY charged toward Kovacevic and dropped the gloves, which I thought was totally unnecessary. The officials apparently agreed with me, as they tagged Podkolzin with the two-minute instigator, as well as a 10-minute misconduct, in addition to the five for fighting he and Kovacevic got.
On the ensuing power play, the Devils continued their months-long embarrassment with the mad advantage, as they registered only one shot on goal, and it wasn’t all that dangerous either. Edmonton held almost as much zone time as New Jersey during the power play, and the Devils were held without a goal.
The period ended shortly after. It was a frame that started quite well for New Jersey, even if tons of zone time didn’t result in shots. The Oilers started getting their chances around midway through the period, and it was pretty even until the power play late in the first. Shots were even at 4-4 after a low-event 20 minutes.
Second Period
The second period began with the Glass line putting together a good shift with a couple shots on net, but still no breakthrough. Lenni Hameenaho, playing on Glass’ wing, had not been as noticeable as he was against Calgary thus far, but he certainly was not looking out of place through a period-plus.
Then with 14:37 left, the Devils finally broke through. It was once again the Glass line, with Glass himself corralling a Dougie Hamilton pass in the corner to Jarry’s right. Glass found a streaking Arseny Gritsyuk in the slot, and Gritsyuk absolutely blasted a one-timer through Jarry for his ninth goal of the season. The secondary assist gave Hamilton points in his last six games.
The lead was short-lived though. With 12:58 left, Jake Walman ripped a slap shot from the point off a faceoff win. Matt Savoie redirected the shot down and past Allen to knot the game at one. It was very close to being a high stick, but Sheldon Keefe chose not to challenge.
But then exactly 90 seconds later, the Devils retook the lead! Connor Brown, back in Edmonton, collected a pass in the neutral zone and found a wide open Gritsyuk at the blue line on the right wing side. Gritsyuk gained the zone and feathered a wonderful pass to a cutting Glass on the far side. Glass ripped a one-timer past Jarry to restore New Jersey’s lead.
At 10:08, Brenden Dillon took a puck over glass delay of game penalty to send the league’s top-ranked power play to their first man advantage. Granted, this was a unit without the services of Leon Draisaitl, but it is still a lethal grouping without him. New Jersey actually did a great job killing the first minute and a half of the power play when Brown led a 2-on-1 with Glass. Brown found Glass to Jarry’s left, and Jarry made a really nice glove save to rob Glass from his second consecutive goal and third point on the night. After the glove-save, the Devils successfully killed off the rest of the penalty.
With 5:50 left, the Hischier line was in the midst of putting together a nice shift with plenty of pressure and shot attempts. That all changed when Jonas Siegenthaler couldn’t handle a pass, and in the process of trying to recover the puck, he tripped Savoie to send the Oilers to their second consecutive power play. It was a really frustrating turn of events to INSTANTLY end the Devils’ attack.
About 30 seconds into the kill, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins slipped a great pass from the corner to an activating Jake Walman, but Walman was robbed by Allen sliding to his right. It looked like Allen got it with either his pad or the paddle of his stick. Either way, it was a big save.
Then, around 20 seconds after that, McDavid and Brown were called for coincidental minors after they got tangled up in the Oilers’ end. It remained a 5-on-4 PP for Edmonton, but without McDavid which is massive.
In the final moments of the power play, Hischier and Dawson Mercer were spring on a 2-on-1. Mercer took the shot, and because this is the 2025-26 New Jersey Devils, Mercer’s shot caught the shaft of Jarry’s stick and did not go in. This team is full of bad shooters, but their finishing woes are also the product of insanely bad luck. That Mercer chance was the perfect embodiment of that.
The period ended a few minutes later. The Hughes line put together another good shift that featured Timo Meier making a terrific play to steal a puck and set up Hughes in front, but Hughes couldn’t get a shot off. That was it until the horn sounded though. Aside from the penalties, it was another pretty good period for the Devils. The two goals were nice of course, and beyond that, New Jersey was starting to get some actual chances at the net. Shots 10-6 in favor of the Devils in the period.
Third Period
The Oilers had the better of the play through the first few minutes of the third. Edmonton caught a massive break when Savoie blatantly clipped Meier up high with his stick, but the officials threw the dart at the dartboard and it landed on “keep the whistle in your pocket for no reason at all”, so we played on.
Then with about 14 minutes left in the period, Podkolzin (who had spent a large chunk of this game in the penalty box to this point) was sprung on a mini-breakaway. He tried to deke to his forehand, but Allen sprawled out and made a strong pad save. The Oilers buzzed for a while after that until Allen snatched an easy wrister from the point to get a much-needed stoppage. Edmonton was starting to tilt the ice, and New Jersey was hanging on for dear life.
As has been the case far, far, far too often this season, the Devils went an absurdly long time without registering a shot in the period. We reached eight minutes to go in the frame and New Jersey still hadn’t hit Jarry with a puck. Meanwhile the Oilers continued to pile up zone time, shot attempts, and quality looks at the net. It really seemed like the schedule was starting to factor in. Playing the third period of the second half of a back-to-back on the opposite end of the country very late at night was starting to take its toll.
Finally, almost exactly 15 minutes into the third, the Devils put a shot on goal, and it was a dangerous one. Brown was sprung on a partial breakaway, and he wired a wrist shot on target that Jarry made a glove save on.
Edmonton continued to apply pressure, but Allen continued to stand tall. With about two minutes left, Hamilton and the Hughes line combined to actually make Jarry work a little bit, but he turned aside both shots he faced on that shift.
Edmonton pulled Jarry with about two minutes on the clock. The Oilers sustained a lot of zone time and whistled a lot of shot attempts at the net, with some of them reaching Allen. But the Devils weathered the storm and the clock hit triple zeroes with New Jersey holding on for the 2-1 victory!
It was a tense third period, with the Devils seemingly running out of gas. Edmonton controlled play basically all period long. Shots were 13-3 in favor of the Oilers in the final frame. But Allen stood tall, the defense was structured enough, the team as a whole was lucky enough, and New Jersey held the fort to get a huge win.
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
Quick Hits
- Tonight was Jack Hughes’ 400th career game in the NHL. Congratulations to the middle Hughes brother on an even 400.
- The Gritsyuk-Glass-Hameenaho line was terrific this evening. According to Natural Stat Trick, in 5:10 of ice time together, that line out-attempted their opponents 5-0, outshot them 3-0, and won the Scoring Chances and High Danger Corsi battles 3-0 and 1-0 respectively. And of course, they outscored Edmonton 1-0. They controlled play all night long.
- Speaking of that line, Hameenaho was less noticeable than the night before, but I thought he had another solid game. He continues to look poised, smart, and dangerous when given a little room. More of him and less of Glendening, please.
- I also thought Timo Meier was great tonight. He was a forechecking demon, and the Oilers did not have an answer for him through the first two periods. I do wish he could have hit the net more, as he registered three shots on seven shot attempts overall. That number led the team, by the way.
- Finally, Jake Allen was dynamite in this game, and he needed to be, especially in the third period. Per NST, Allen saved 1.8 Goals Above Expected, which is stellar work. He was arguably the best Devil on the ice, with only Glass or Gritsyuk or Meier serving as his only competition.
- Don’t look now, but the Devils have won the second half of a back-to-back, and have won four of their last five overall. They still have way more work to do to climb out of the deep hole they’ve dug themselves, but four of five is a good start.
Next Time Out
The Devils continue their west coast swing on Friday, when they travel to Vancouver to battle the Canucks. Puck drop is slated for 10pm ET.
Your Take
Leave your take in the comments section. Goodnight.