The New Jersey Devils put together a dominant offensive performance on Wednesday night. After an upsetting first period, the Devils took the Philadelphia Flyers to the woodshed in the second period. They scored four goals from four different players, getting offense from up and down the lineup.
In the third period, the Devils added a fantastic Jack Hughes goal early after a passing clinic from him and Jesper Bratt. It capped off a fantastic night for the Devils, which included a Jake Allen shutout.
Some pretty passing between Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes and it's now FIVE-zip for the Devils 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mfppfYCISj
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 30, 2025
By the time regulation ended, both Hughes brothers, Dawson Mercer, Ondrej Palat, and Nathan Bastian all scored goals. They also almost had goals from Jack Hughes (again), Tomas Tatar, and Dougie Hamilton. The Devils' offensive weapons were working on Wednesday, and this is the type of offensive performance people expect, even without Nico Hischier in the lineup.
The question for the Devils is how they can make this a consistent thing. We don't see the Devils scoring five goals every night, but how do they consistently finish even when a game starts off frustratingly?
The Devils survived January, and with the win on Wednesday night, they have 64 points in the standings, and they are back over .600 in points percentage. They gave themselves a little breathing room from the teams chasing them, holding a nine-point lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets (three games in hand), and 12 points on the New York Rangers (also three games in hand).
It was a huge win for the Devils, who needed to wash the stain of Monday's loss. Sentiment around this team felt like it was at an all-time low. Now, they officially finished January with a hockey .500 record (5-5-3). While that's not ideal for a team in a competitive playoff race, it's not something that should cause panic. This is a good team that went through a bad stretch.