Devils put reinforcements back on the shelf as they suffer two more injuries in Wednesday's win

The New Jersey Devils are riding high after a late-night win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Simon Nemec went psycho mode and scored a hat trick, including the overtime game winner. The win gives the Devils 25 standings points, three more than the second-best team in the Eastern Conference. They are on pace for 120-121 points.

It should be mostly cheery for Devils fans this morning, but there is some concern. The Devils can’t seem to get out of a game without another injury. We can count on one hand the number of games where the Devils left the ice with the same amount of players they entered with.

And that narrative didn’t change on Wednesday night. This time, the Devils suffered two different injuries, and it was to players who have already missed time.

First, Zack MacEwen, who returned to the lineup for the first time on Monday, took a big hit behind the net in the offensive zone, and he was laboring for the rest of his shift. When he finally returned to the bench, he immediately went back to the locker room and never returned. 

MacEwen was injured in his Devils debut against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In his third game for the Devils, he suffered his second injury.

It's unfortunate because MacEwen has been great on the fourth line. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Paul Cotter-Luke Glendening-Zack MacEwen combination had 75% of the offensive chances while on the ice, including a 2-0 advantage on high-danger chances. It's a small sample size (a little more than 13 minutes), but it shows how big a difference MacEwen makes on the fourth line.

MacEwen’s injury is important, but the other injury the Devils suffered could once again change the way the lineup works. Cody Glass has been a welcome return to the lineup. The third-line center has been incredible over the past few games. He is also returning from his own injury, but he looked just as good as he did to start the season. 

Unfortunately, we’re not particularly confident that he’s going to return quickly. Glass took a hard run into the boards Wednesday night. 

Devils lose a very important piece to the forward puzzle in Cody Glass

Glass attempted to return to the bench in the second period, but he played one shift and left right after it. It's not the hardest hit into the boards, but a shoulder at that angle could have serious injury.

The Devils will once again be forced to focus on reinforcements. The new lines people really liked that Sheldon Keefe put out will probably have to be put on pause as Dawson Mercer will likely need to move back to third-line center. Brian Halonen might be coming back to the Devils after recently scoring his first NHL goal.

The injuries are starting to stack up, as the whole right side of the defense is out, and these forward injuries are added to Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov, who have both missed multiple games. The Devils need to keep winning as much as they can before the injuries become untenable.