The New Jersey Devils were able to survive the Florida Panthers to get a win at their home opener on Thursday night. We say “survive” because the Devils spent half the night on the penalty kill. In all, the Devils killed off five penalties, and the Panthers scored just one goal all night on Jake Allen.
It was a big win by the Devils, who had five power plays of their own, scoring a Timo Meier goal on one of them. The Devils’ power play looked much better than in previous nights, as Meier is a much better fit for the PP1 than Dawson Mercer was.
It’s rare to see the referees involve themselves in the game as much as they did, with 10 penalties called in what was a mostly uneventful game physically. It was a tightly called game where every trip, hold, and hook was getting called by the letter of the law.
However, that’s not the most important impact the officials made on the game. With a little over a minute left in the game and the Panthers down by two, they scored with the goalie pulled. The referee on the ice immediately waved the goal off, citing goalie interference. Anton Lundell appeared to accidentally elbow Jake Allen in front of the crease, which caused the call.
long review going on right now pic.twitter.com/hAwdSwC2tS
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) October 17, 2025
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice didn’t agree with the call, so he challenged it. During the review, which took a very long time and extended the final minutes of the game for fans in the arena ready to celebrate, the referees found it to be a good goal. Wait, actually, no they didn’t.
And this is the moment that’s going viral. Referee Francis Charron called the play a “goal” but immediately realized his mistake. Watch:
Ref went to announce the goal review call and had a Steve Harvey mix up moment 😭 pic.twitter.com/xDmXoBaiBu
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 17, 2025
The NHL ruled that Anton Lundell impaired Allen’s ability to play his position. After the game, Allen even remarked how it’s hard to know what goalie interference is in today’s game, but he felt it was clear.
It was a pivotal swing for the Devils, as the Panthers transitioned from being down 3-2 and shifting to a 6-on-5 attack to facing a 5-on-4 penalty kill, staring down a 3-1 deficit with 1:17 left on the clock. The Devils play a tough October schedule, but this helped the Devils go 3-1-0 to start the season.