The New Jersey Devils are clearly not the team they were last season. They do not win the game that the Devils on against the New York Islanders on Saturday night, and Luke Hughes does not make the plays he makes to win the game.
Hughes was a fraction of the player he has been this year. He’s been a legit number-one defenseman.
Coming into last season, there were many people comparing Hughes to Matthew Schaefer. The reigning number-one overall pick was dominant while Hughes had a slow start after a contract negotiation that took all of training camp to finalize. Hughes then suffered multiple injuries, and the comparison was not even worth the conversation.
Schaefer is still an incredible player, but Hughes is finally looking like the player the Devils drafted fourth overall in 2021.
And on Saturday night, we saw what they look like when they clash. Directly. Both players were electric on this night, with Schaefer making an incredible play to beat Jake Allen at the end of the first period to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. While Luke Hughes didn’t have a point in regulation, he finished the game with a ridiculous 26:33 of ice time. He did everything the Devils needed of him.
Then, Luke Hughes and Matthew Schaefer fought
The words “Matthew Schaefer fight” and “Luke Hughes fight” are rarities. In fact, we couldn’t find one on the Hockey Fights website. So, seeing them fight each other was incredible.
MATTHEW SCHAEFER AND LUKE HUGHES WERE SWINGING 👊 pic.twitter.com/NcX3kx2e4Q
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 8, 2026
That fight led to a lot of interesting feelings. The Islanders came out of it with just a Logan Stanley penalty, causing a power play (he actually got two and Schaefer got one, but those were countered by penalties from Hughes and Brett Pesce). However, the fight seemed to get the Devils going. At the time of the penalties, the Devils were down 4-2. They were going into intermission on the power play, but their PP1 was in the box.
The Devils did not score on the power play, but the team had a different motivation. They outshot the Islanders 16-9, and they had a litany of huge opportunities that Ilya Sorokin robbed, including multiple against Nico Hischier.
Luke Evangelista scored a goal off Sorokin’s back about six minutes into the third, then Dougie Hamilton got a clapper late thanks to another Devils power play.
That opened the door for Luke Hughes’ payback. Schaefer tried his usual heroics in overtime, but he isn’t used to a player who can go stride for stride like Hughes. And he doesn’t have his brother on the ice.
Who else?! Jack Hughes wins it in overtime and completes the comeback for @NJDevils!@DonLagreca | @KenDaneykoMSG | #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/oGsA9WzMyC
— Devils on MSG (@DevilsMSGN) November 8, 2026
And just like that, the Devils have finally beaten the Islanders on Long Island. Luke Hughes gets payback for the way the fight ended, and Jack Hughes has his third overtime goal of the season.
Honestly, there could be a budding rivalry here. Luke Hughes and Matthew Schaefer are expected to be here a long time, and if there's true animosity there, we could see them have a personal rivalry that makes these games very fun.
For now, the Devils have the advantage, no matter how much opposing fans want to claim it was a penalty.
Add us as a preferred source on Google