The Devils have been a hot mess lately. A day after losing promising rookie Arseny Gritsyuk for the weekend, they announced that Simon Nemec would miss some time due to a lower-body injury he sustained in practice. Also without Timo Meier, who took a personal leave of absence due to a family issue, they still surged ahead to win for just the second time over their last eight by defeating the Ducks 4-1 at The Rock this afternoon.

The big victory snapped a five-game home losing streak. Coming off an 8-4 humiliation to the Lightning on Thursday night, the Devils knew they needed to dig deep to get back in the good graces of frustrated fans, who booed them off the ice. It hasn’t been easy for them to string together wins without top star Jack Hughes. They entered play 5-9-0 since Hughes’ bizarre hand injury at a Chicago steakhouse. In particular, the good feeling at home had disappeared. They started the season 9-0-1 in Newark before losing to the Flyers on Nov. 29.

Something had to change. As it turned out, being without nine regulars was enough for them to get the kind of strong performance they needed to send the fans home happy. In what amounted to one of their best efforts of the season, the Devils responded well by getting the final four goals against the Ducks, who looked like they thought they could just show up and win.

It was the sheer hustle and scrappy play of the shorthanded Devils that earned cheers from the crowd. Playing like their lives depended on it, they were the superior team on Saturday. It showed in how they won most of the puck battles and defended to protect a two-goal lead in the third period.

With Gritsyuk out, Xavier Parent got the call from Utica. He played on the fourth line with rookie Angus Crookshank and Luke Glendening. They epitomized the kind of effort the Devils gave.

For once, it was the supporting cast who stepped up to provide the scoring. Stefan Noesen, Paul Cotter, and Cody Glass each scored to help the Devils improve to 18-13-1. Connor Brown added the empty netter. They also got good contributions from others, including Juho Lammikko, Ondrej Palat, and Colton White. They all had a pair of assists. Jake Allen made 30 saves to pick up his first victory since Nov. 28.

After falling behind a goal due to Leo Carlsson setting up Troy Terry, the Devils struck back less than three minutes later thanks to Lammikko slipping a feed in front for Noesen to bury past Lukas Dostal. It was only his second goal and first since Oct. 28, erasing a 21-game goal drought. The assist was Lammikko’s first point of the season. Jesper Bratt picked up a secondary helper.

With the game still tied in the second period, White sent a point shot towards a maze of players. The puck was deflected by Lammikko right to Cotter, who retrieved it and put it in to extend his goal streak to three straight. In his first season with the Devils, he finished with 16 goals. If he can keep it going, that would help the offense tremendously.

Continuing to outplay the Ducks by attacking a subpar defense, some strong work from White on the boards led to Palat finding Glass open for his sixth to increase the lead to 3-1 with 2:56 left.

The difference was the Devils’ relentless puck pursuit on the forecheck, which gave the Ducks problems. In fact, they victimized the Mason McTavish unit on three goals. Most of the work was provided by Cotter, Lammikko, Noesen, and White. It was a welcome change for a team whose lack of scoring depth had been problematic.

In the third period, they opted to protect the two-goal lead. However, they didn’t sit back. Instead, the Devils sent two forwards in when they had the opportunity to forecheck. They also did a good job in the neutral zone by having active sticks to break up Ducks’ rushes. Anaheim found it difficult to complete passes due to the aggressive strategy, which included players standing up at the blue line.

When the Ducks managed to get some good looks, Allen was there to slam the door shut on Carlsson. With Dostal pulled for an extra attacker, Terry was left all alone in front until a hustling Palat got back in time to check him. He didn’t even get a shot on goal. The much maligned Palat played one of his better games. After narrowly missing an empty net from inside his zone, he made a good defensive play to send Connor Brown in alone for the empty netter with two minutes remaining.

Devils Host Canucks After Quinn Hughes’ Trade to Wild

The Devils will again have an early start against the Canucks on Sunday at 12:30 EST. Vancouver made some big headlines by finally trading captain Quinn Hughes last night in a blockbuster with the Wild that involved three players going back to the Canucks.

It was speculated for a long time that Devils team president and general manager Tom Fitzgerald had shown strong interest in acquiring Hughes. The Devils were one of several teams reported to be in on trade discussions with the Canucks. However, the Wild made the best offer to beat out the Devils and Capitals for Hughes. I’ll have more on this story in another post. Here was some reaction from younger brother Luke about Quinn going to Minnesota.

Luke Hughes spoke honestly about the situation with his older brother, whose days in Vancouver had been numbered. It was becoming too much of a distraction. There had been so many rumors floated by different sources, which probably wasn’t helping Quinn’s play. His offense had suffered recently despite continuing to pile up minutes on a bad Canucks team that knew they had to rebuild.

The Wild will have a window to sign Hughes to a contract extension on July 1. They will be the only team that can offer him an eighth year. For the Devils, they can go back to focusing on playing hockey. Something that Keefe acknowledge had become hard lately.

Keefe’s team was a lot better today. If they can win tomorrow against the Canucks, that would be two in a row. The last time they had a winning streak came between Nov. 24-28.