The New Jersey Devils are desperately trying to stay above water as its stars continue to go down with injuries, but the team’s top star, Jack Hughes, is set to return on Saturday.
Things looked like they were going to go from bad to worse for the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. After losing three-straight games, all without Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier, it was announced Timo Meier would be missing the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a lower-body injury. While the injury is minor, the Devils could not afford to lose another star as they faced one of the hottest teams in hockey.
Luckily, the Devils pulled out their best performance in weeks, beating the Penguins 5-2. Doing that with three of the team’s top four forwards, especially players the caliber of Hischier, Hughes, and Meier, is impressive. As impressive as it was, the celebration is short lived. The Devils take on the New York Rangers on Saturday night. The first of four rivalry matchups on a Saturday night at home, and all good will goes out the door without a win.
Again luckily, the Devils are likely getting Hughes back just in time for this matchup. Call it competitive spirit or good timing, but Hughes is much needed on this offense. Michael McLeod is doing a decent enough job in the top six, but he can’t keep being this team’s top-line center. That’s not how a team can stay in contention.
This week is actually weirdly important for NHL teams. It’s important for teams to be in a playoff position at American Thanksgiving.
NHL teams in playoff position on Thanksgiving Night have ended up making the playoffs 77% of the time in the salary cap era.
— HockeyStatMiner (@HockeyStatMiner) November 21, 2021
Notably that’s 77% of the time for both the four-division (74/96) and six-division (86/112) formats.
*excluding shortened seasons
**going by Pts% not Pts
Of course, the above numbers are slightly old, but they still tell the story. That number is pretty ridiculous. Looking at last season, the Devils were in first place of the Metropolitan Division during the holiday. The other teams in the playoffs in the Metro were the Islanders, Rangers, and Hurricanes. Those were the four teams from this division that made the playoffs.
Right now, the Devils are sitting in a playoff spot. Despite being in “ninth” place in points, they are actually in sixth place in points percentage. As you can see from the stat above, that’s what plays out in the Thanksgiving stat.
The Devils are holding onto that playoff position by one standings point. They play two games this week, with the one against the Rangers and another against the lowly Blue Jackets. To secure a spot in the playoffs, they really need three points here. It’s possible to survive a loss to the Rangers, but they’d need some luck.
Either way, it’s good to get Jack Hughes back in the lineup. He practiced fully on Friday, so barring a setback, he should be good to play on Saturday. The status of Meier is still up in the air after he wasn’t a part of practice on Friday. He could return Saturday, but we’d put that as not likely. Hughes is a good enough start, and a win against the Rangers, who are shorthanded themselves with no Adam Fox or Filip Chytil. Igor Shesterkin could return, but he’s also a game-time decision.
It’s a big game with big ramifications, even if it is just November. This is the first time the Devils and Rangers face each other (for real) since the Devils knocked out their rivals in Game 7. It’s going to be brutal, but hopefully Hughes lifts them to victory.