The New Jersey Devils were not supposed to win this game.
They’ve hit rock bottom of late, dropping their last four tilts before Monday night amid some off-ice controversy. Add the fact that the wound of missing out on Quinn Hughes is still fresh, and the Minnesota Wild are now thriving with him, and this game had five straight losses written all over it.
Yet, in the Wild’s home at Grand Casino Arena, the Devils snapped their losing streak in a 5-2 win against all the odds.
For the first time in four games, the Devils opened the scoring. Ironically, the goal was scored on their first shot by Dawson Mercer after Nico Hischier forced a turnover behind the Wild net. After the Devils captain won his puck battle, he fed Mercer in the slot for a one-timer that beat Jesper Wallstadt to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead.
The Devils held a one-goal lead through the next 23-plus minutes, and there wasn’t another tally until the middle frame was 2/3 of the way through.
Minnesota hemmed the Devils in their end with a tired group of New Jersey skaters on the ice. Brock Faber unloaded a shot from the Devils’ blue line that was redirected by Ryan Hartman and past Jacob Markstrom to tie the game 1-1.
New Jersey would not go into the second intermission even, however. With seconds remaining on the clock, Hischier won another puck battle below the Wild goal line. A centering pass by the Devils captain reached Ondrej Palat on Wallstadt’s back door, and he buried the puck to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead with eight seconds remaining in the middle frame.
In the final frame, the Devils opened up the scoring on the stick of Jesper Bratt, who netted two goals in the third to extend New Jersey’s lead by two.
Dougie Hamilton served Bratt both primary assists.
The Devils’ scoring wasn’t done there, as Palat added to the Devils’ lead, scoring his second goal of the game on a fortuitous bounce that landed in front of Mercer, who assisted New Jersey’s fifth goal.
A late penalty by Brenden Dillon put the Devils on the penalty kill. Marcus Foligno deposited Minnesota’s second goal with 17.9 seconds to go.
But the buzzer blared and the Devils won the first Minnesota Hughes bowl 5-2.
Markstrom made 19 saves on 20 shots, capturing his 11th win of the season.
