The New Jersey Devils are taking on the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, looking to bounce back from an overtime loss on Monday night. It’s the first game of a five-game road trip, and the Devils were coming out firing. They were taking shots and laying hits on Chicago, who is on a three-game winning streak.
With Spencer Knight in net and facing the team with the best save percentage in the NHL, the Devils had to be sure to play a clean game without many mistakes. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened in the first period.
The Devils were sporting a new set of forward lines, trying to create something on offense. They moved Dawson Mercer and Arseny Gritsyuk to Jack Hughes’s wing, while Jesper Bratt moved to Nico Hischier’s line. It felt crazy at first, but it might actually work better.
It’s no surprise that the Devils are dealing with injuries on the blueline. The defense is trotting out Colton White and Dennis Cholowski as a third pair. Both of them would ideally be with a high-talent, but with Dougie Hamilton, Johnny Kovacevic, and Brett Pesce out right now, this is what they have to do.
With that being the case, the Devils cannot afford to have their other four defensemen taking penalties. So, when Luke Hughes took a tripping penalty in the first period, it was already stressing the defense. One of Cholowski or White would have to play PK. Then, Brenden Dillon made an insane mistake.
Dangerous hit from Brenden Dillon, who according to the broadcast has already laid three hits on Bedard in the first period. Here he elbows and boards Bertuzzi pic.twitter.com/q7Xybkxb4q
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 13, 2025
While Dillon started the hit in the middle of Tyler Bertuzzi’s back, he’s riding up on him and going into the boards. He’s lucky he didn’t get a five-minute major, possibly putting this game out of reach. Instead, this gave the Blackhawks a 5-on-3 advantage for more than a minute.
Connor Bedard scored the easiest goal of his career when Jacob Markstrom want about five feet outside his crease after making a few high-danger saves. It wasn’t a banner night for Markstrom,
Meanwhile, Dillon still has to wait to see if there will be extended discipline for himself. Leaving the skates and finishing a check at the head will have the league taking an extended look at the hit.
This would be devastating, as the Devils are already undermanned on defense. Losing Dillon would probably mean Cholowski, White, and Seamus Casey are playing. That would leave Jonas Siegenthaler as the only veteran on the unit.
Hopefully, Dillon gets just a fine or less for the hit. Even though it was just a minor penalty, the league can still come down on him. We hope they take the same discretion the referees did on the play.