We often hear people overuse the term “must win” in sports. People will say a game in the middle of November is a must-win because a team is on a three-game losing streak. However, the New Jersey Devils were facing a must-win on Tuesday night. The impacts on the standings were immense. Truly, the Devils needed a regulation win, and they got it in a big way.
The Devils beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 on Tuesday night. The game was probably more stressful than Devils fans expected after a 3-0 first period, but the team pulled through and reacted to adversity. This might be bigger than if the Devils just dominated the game 7-0. The fact that the Devils saw a 3-0 lead turn into 3-2 in the second period could have caused previous Devils teams to turtle.
Not this time. Timo Meier buried a beautiful shot near the end of the second period, salvaging what was looking like a lost 20 minutes. Sending the Devils into the break at 4-2 meant the team could come out to the third period with serious confidence.
I got a fever and the only prescription is more Meier Madness. pic.twitter.com/V5m2WxsuNe
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 12, 2025
The Devils wanted a little breathing room, and Luke Hughes gave them that with quickness in the third period. He put the puck in the net just 26 seconds into the third period, giving the Devils a 5-2 lead.
It was an important win in more ways than one. The Devils have been dreadful against playoff teams in 2025. Coming into this game, they had one win against a player team this year. One! That was back on January 11th, an overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Beating the Blue Jackets shows the Devils they can beat competitive teams instead of being a merchant of points from the bottom dwellers of the league.
The New Jersey Devils absolutely needed to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets to keep their playoff hopes moving forward.
The five-goal outburst was also the most they've scored since Jack Hughes's injury. The Devils' star is out for the season after shoulder surgery, forcing the Devils to find the right lineup without him. It was an interesting lineup choice for Sheldon Keefe, who moved Jesper Bratt down to a line with newly acquired Cody Glass and Erik Haula. At least for one night, it worked.
Lastly, and most important, the Devils needed this win to put themselves in the driver's seat for playoff positioning. The Blue Jackets were quickly coming up from behind, basically tying the Devils if they won their games at hand. Now, the Devils have a comfortable six-point lead on the Blue Jackets. While this doesn't end the race between them, especially with another matchup between the two coming next week, it does give the Devils a firm hold on a playoff spot.
Needless to say, big, big game for the #NJDevils tonight (via MoneyPuck) pic.twitter.com/hJrIAMfoe8
— Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_NJD) March 11, 2025
As you see in the chart above, the Devils now have a 91.8% chance to make the playoffs. The loss knocks the Blue Jackets down to 25% chance to make the playoffs (although, this doesn't take the New York Rangers loss to the Winnipeg Jets into account). The Devils are firmly in that third spot in the standings. That's probably where they'll stay, but even if they falter, they have two fallback options in the two Wild Card spots.
The playoffs are a must for this group, even without Jack Hughes. The goal doesn't need to be to win the Stanley Cup. The goal can be to gain crucial experience in a playoff atmosphere. Ask Brady Tkachuk how much he would love to make the playoffs this season? Players like Jesper Bratt would love to get redemption from his pitiful 2023 performance. This team can still compete, as they proved on Tuesday night.