Once again, the New Jersey Devils needed a hero late in another exciting game. This time, it came on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Simon Nemec recorded his first career hat trick to lift the Devils to a 4-3 overtime win over the Blackhawks at United Center. Already with a goal in a back and forth game that was shown on TNT, he scored the game-tying goal with 3:46 left in regulation.

On a great rush and pass from Jack Hughes down low to Stefan Noesen, Nemec was the recipient of a Noesen backdoor feed that he chipped home to tie the score.

In overtime, Jacob Markstrom caught the Blackhawks in a line change. His stretch pass for Nemec at the Chicago blue line sent him in against Spencer Knight. The Blackhawks starter had been superb for most of the game, making several great saves to deny multiple bids. This time, it was Nemec who fired home a laser top shelf to beat Knight at 3:28 and complete the three-goal game in style.

By recording the hat trick, Nemec became only the third defenseman in franchise history to score three goals in a game. In fact, the only other Devil to do it was Uli Hiemer on Oct. 31, 1984 versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. The first ever defenseman to get three was Barry Beck, who did it as a member of the Colorado Rockies on Dec. 17, 1977 vs. the Minnesota North Stars.

For his achievement, he got to hear from Wayne Gretzky on the NHL On TNT postgame show. Something he’ll probably remember the rest of his life.

Initially, there was some excitement surrounding the game due to Jack Hughes and Connor Bedard. They were the headliners to watch in the second half of TNT’s doubleheader. It didn’t disappoint. Hughes put on a better show than Bedard. Both were factors last night.

In a very fast paced opening period that saw the teams combine for 22 shots (12-10 Blackhawks), the Devils ran into some penalty trouble midway through. After they successfully killed off a Ondrej Palat hooking minor thanks to their aggressiveness, which led to two shorthanded shots getting thwarted by Spencer Knight, consecutive penalties on Luke Hughes (tripping) and Brenden Dillon (boarding) put the Blackhawks on a five-on-three.

Just as the two-man advantage was expiring, the Blackhawks struck when Bedard rifled home a Teuvo Teravainen pass into a vacated net for a power-play goal at 18:35. Due to the quick puck movement from Bedard, who was literally everywhere during the five-on-three, they had Markstrom completely faked out. He was so badly out of position that he was way out of his net. By the time Tyler Bertuzzi moved the puck to Bedard for a fake shot, the Devils goalie was down and out. Instead, he passed it over to Teravainen, who then had an easy setup for Bedard to bury his 10th for a 1-0 lead.

Bedard has goals in four straight and extended his point streak to nine (8-11-19). After the first was over, the Devils didn’t take another penalty. Instead, they dominated most of the remainder by outshooting the Blackhawks 27-8, including 14-3 in a lopsided second period.

By the time the period started, they were without forward Cody Glass. He suffered a hand injury with 11 seconds left in the first. A key checking center who already missed time due to one injury, Glass could be out again when the Devils continue their road trip at Washington this weekend. He took seven shifts (4:02 TOI) before exiting the game.

That wasn’t the only player to go down. Zack MacEwen only took three shifts (2:13 TOI) before leaving. The Devils played with 10 forwards for the remainder. It worked out well due to coach Sheldon Keefe being able to lean on his top players. Hughes, Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, and Arseny Gritsyuk played over 20 minutes.

Prior to the game, Keefe changed his top two lines to help get Hischier going. The Devils captain came in without a point over his last four games. His line hadn’t been getting it done. So, Keefe decided to flip the two wings. Bratt and Meier joined Hischier on one line. Gritsyuk and Mercer played with Hughes. The moves paid off. With Keefe also able to double shift Hughes and Hischier, they tilted the ice.

For a while, they had trouble beating Knight. The Blackhawks starter had already stoned Bratt on a breakaway. He stole at least three goals, including one on Hughes by making a point blank pad save on a breakaway. Hughes drew a penalty on Wyatt Kaiser for hooking. Before they went to the power play, the Devils nearly scored. However, Dennis Cholowski’s shot hit the crossbar.

The Blackhawks did a good job killing off the penalty by limiting the Devils to a single Luke Hughes shot that Knight handled. Hughes had some looks to score during the game, but he still doesn’t have a goal on the season. He’s struggled defensively so far. Perhaps he’s feeling the weight of expectations after signing the new contract.

As the period moved on, the Devils spent significant time in the Chicago end. They kept the puck on a string. Taking advantage of the long change, they peppered Knight, who kept making big stops, including one on Hischier and another on Hughes. It looked like his goaltending was going to keep the Blackhawks in front headed to intermission.

With time winding down in the period, Meier started a quick transition that led to Nemec tying the score at 19:45. After receiving the puck from Meier, an on-rushing Hischier found an open Nemec in the slot. With Bedard hounding him, Nemec had enough room to send a backhand towards the net that beat Knight short side. That tied the score.

At the start of the third period, it was the Blackhawks who responded. On some sustained pressure in the Devils zone, Nick Foligno got the puck up for a Louis Crevier shot pass which an open Landon Swaggert tipped in for his first at 3:05.

Afterward, it was the Devils’ turn to respond. Following a near miss from Jack Hughes on a wrap-around, he set up Mercer for his ninth to tie the score with 9:47 remaining. Following a Knight stop on Gritsyuk, the rookie helped keep the play alive for Hughes, who made a perfect diagonal feed across for Mercer to finish.

But in a helter skelter period, the Blackhawks again came back to retake a one-goal lead. Once again, Crevier and Foligno were involved. Following receiving the puck from Crevier, Foligno saw that Sam Lafferty was standing at the Devils blue line. He wisely banked a pass off the boards that sent Lafferty in. He went around a diving Luke Hughes and then out-waited Markstrom to tuck a backhand in for a 3-2 Chicago lead with 6:26 remaining.

It looked like that would be enough for the Blackhawks to win. However, the Devils had other ideas. Thanks to Jack Hughes’ creativity, they again tied it up for the third time. After flying into the Chicago zone, he had Stefan Noesen at the side of the net. Rather than look to take a low percentage shot from a tough angle, Noesen found a cutting Nemec in front for an easy goal to make it 3-3 with 2:46 left in regulation.

Having been very active all night, Nemec made a smart read to pinch down. With the Blackhawks occupied with Hughes, Nemec was able to get just enough of the puck to chip it into the open side for his second of the game. He wasn’t done.

When it needed extras, that meant an exciting three-on-three between two of the fastest teams in the league. It was the Devils who controlled overtime by getting all four shots, including Nemec’s emotional winner.

Following a big Knight save on Luke Hughes, Hughes made sure to reset the play by passing the puck back to Markstrom. He immediately noticed that all three Blackhawks were going to the bench for a change. That allowed Markstrom enough time to send a stretch pass way up for Nemec, who was lined up on the opposite side. Once he received the pass, he moved in and picked high glove from the left circle to send excited teammates off the bench to congratulate him.

At 21 years old, Nemec became the youngest defenseman in NHL history to have a hat trick and overtime goal in the same game. He’s the first since Jakob Chychrun did it on Apr. 4, 2021.

Most noteworthy is that he’s the only third defenseman in Devils franchise history to record a three-goal game. It’s hard to believe it took 41 years for Nemec to join Beck and Hiemer. The Devils have had some great defensemen, including Hall of Fame legends Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens. Niedermayer was the better offensive defenseman. Despite winning the Norris, a Conn Smythe, and four Stanley Cups, he never had a hat trick in his career.

It speaks to how difficult it is for a defenseman to do it. Cale Makar has one hat trick in his career. If anyone can get another, it’s probably him. Nemec might have something to say about it.