The New Jersey Devils went into Thursday night’s matchup with the Washington Capitals with a lot of pressure. They were the talk of the town after a statement on Sunday night caused a ruckus. Sunny Mehta revealed that Connor Hellebuyck would not start against the Winnipeg Jets in his return to his former home. It seemed like it was all with a home-and-home with the Washington Capitals in mind.
Unfortunately, right before the game, we learned the Devils were going to be shorthanded. Like, really shorthanded.
The Devils are currently without Brett Pesce and Johnny Kovacevic, with the latter probably out for a long time. Add Anthony Mantha to the injured list after he was placed on LTIR this week, and the Devils are truly shorthanded for the first time since Kovacevic returned to the lineup.
On Thursday night, the Devils had to play with five left-handed defensemen and Lenni Hameenaho making his season debut. And for the first time in Devils history, two players making their season debut outside of opening night scored on the same night. Hameenaho put a puck in the net off his hand to make it 2-2, and Kolaychonok scored his first with the Devils to give the Devils a 3-2 lead, which ended up being the game-winning goal.
Devils depth is going to be the story from a big victory
The Devils put their best foot forward after a rough night in Winnipeg. They went back home and Connor Hellebuyck was stellar after letting in a bad second goal of the night. He was exactly what they needed to keep things grounded after a week of nonsense in the media.
The best goal of the night came off the stick of Stefan Noesen, who returned to the lineup after another stint with the Utica Comets. After Mantha went on LTIR, the Devils could afford Noesen under the salary cap again.
The win shows the importance of building depth at all positions. The Devils are down three right-handed defensemen already this year if you include the Seamus Casey injury. While a night playing five lefties is not ideal, seeing both Luke Hughes and Kolyachonok play on their offhand and do it variably well is important.
The Devils don’t love the situation they are in, but they know they have the right organizational structure in place to survive this current situation. The hope is that Pesce returns on Saturday with a second Caps game on the horizon, but if he isn’t ready, the Devils’ depth will be.
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