The New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders faced off in one of the more exciting games of the year so far. The Devils put 50 shots on Ilya Sorokin, and despite giving up four goals, he did more than his fair share to keep his team in the game. He stopped Nico Hischier on multiple attempts at what looked like an empty net, and it seemed like his continued dominance of the Devils would continue.
But what stood out about this game was the physicality and the feisty approach both teams had. This was especially surprising from Luke Hughes and Matthew Schaefer, who had a fight in the second period then a huge defensive play by the young Devils defender led to the overtime goal that secured two points.
The overtime period had Islanders fans up in arms, but many of them ignored the play by one of their own. Logan Stanley had multiple moments during the game where he was either on the edge of the rules, or he went so far past the rulebook we’re surprised he was allowed to stay in the game.
One play in particular felt egregious. He did get a double minor from the play, but because of all of the additional extracurriculars, the Devils only got one power play out of the deal. Many argue that the play should have been considered a major, and the expectation was that it was going to come with extended discipline from the league.
Here’s the sequence by Logan Stanley that should have been a major penalty.
— JP Gambatese (@jp_gambatese) November 8, 2026
After the scrum, the #NJDevils netted one (1) penalty — a minor. Stanley was assessed a two-minute minor for the slash and two for roughing in the scrum itself. pic.twitter.com/1mIzHv7YdD
Logan Stanley was fined by the league for his trangressions against Nico Hischier
That overhand slash is all that was called on that particular play, with the multiple cross checks all but ignored, and the same goes for the NHL Department of Player Safety. Stanley was fined $3,865.98, the maximum allowable under the CBA. That's such an insignificant number that nothing will be learned of this incident, but it is what it is. This is how the league operates with big goons trying to injury star players.
The Devils got out of the game with two points, and Hischier wasn't injured on the play. Anthony Mantha was injured, and it sounds like he is going to miss some time. However, the Devils come out with what's important for now. Hopefully, the Mantha injury isn't too serious, but a Hischier injury would have been devastating.
And that is what it would have taken to put a larger punishment in place. The act doesn't matter as much as the result. That's an injury inducing play by Stanley, but Hischier is lucky to come out of it.
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