Turning Point? Devils Beginning to Fulfill Tom Fitzgerald’s Vision

The New Jersey Devils have consistently stuck at the top of the Metropolitan Division through 19 games of the 2024-25 season. That’s partially because they’ve played the most games across the entire NHL. And although they’ve continued to collect points, something still felt… off. Tuesday night’s victory against the Florida Panthers felt like a potential turning point for the Devils moving forward, as they certainly encapsulated general manager Tom Fitzgerald’s vision.

The Devils’ 4-1 win wasn’t perfect by any means. In fact, it took them half of the game to really get going, but once they did, they blew the doors off the Panthers’ house.

RELATED: Markstrom, Devils Overcome Panthers 4-1 in Impressive, Physical Victory

It all started with the Brenden Dillon fight, which is well documented. Before Dillon dropped the mitts with Jonah Gadjovich, they were certainly chasing the puck in the first half of the game. However, Dillon’s thriller certainly ignited a flame in the Devils that shot them out of a cannon for the remaining 30 minutes.

“We have a lot of tools. You see Dillon step up there. It’s a crucial part of the game that gets us going,” Paul Cotter explained. “We have guys that can fight, guys that can make skill plays, guys that can get pucks behind (defenders) and go to work. I thought everybody bought into the system and did well. What started it was (Dillon’s fight). Obviously, we have a lot of respect for him for doing that. From there on out, we all bought in.”

This is exactly what Fitzgerald brought Dillon in for. Last season’s Devils would have folded like a piece of paper to the defending champs with the amount of pressure that was mounting through the first 30 minutes of play. Dillon’s ability to be physical and swing the moment on its head kickstarted the Devils’ victory, and the veteran defenseman knew exactly when to pick his moment.

“He asked me there. I felt for our team, we needed to get a spark going,” Dillon explained to ESPN in the postgame. “We knew the challenge in front of us. That’s a helluva hockey team that just won the Stanley Cup. Kind of a weird schedule, we’re playing back-to-back on Tuesday and Thursday. Overall, it was a huge win. I was just trying to get a spark there for the fellas. We were fortunate to get the two points, too.”

Brenden Dillon is one tough dude 👀 pic.twitter.com/PG7dLlzXqq

— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) November 13, 2024

READ: Devils Prioritizing Team Toughness, ‘We Might Not Start It, But We’ll Finish It’ (+)

It wasn’t just the Dillon fight that began shaping Fitzgerald’s vision for whom he wanted the Devils to be this season.

Through the first frame and a half, the Panthers controlled the puck, throwing 21 shots on net as opposed to the Devils’ 11 shots.

Well, the first thing Fitzgerald did this summer was go out and acquire a goaltender who could weather the storm of an onslaught from a championship caliber team. Admittedly, it was a rocky start to the season for the 34-year-old goaltender. However, he turned in his best performance of the season thus far on Tuesday, which feels like another domino in the Devils putting all the pieces together.

“I think my performance mirrors the way we played,” Markstrom said. “I was seeing everything, they did a great job in front of me in moving bodies and taking sticks away, clearing rebounds. It was a team effort, for sure, and that is reflected in my game.”

Tuesday’s victory was Markstrom’s third victory in as many games, making 2.3 saves above expected while stopping 34/35 pucks.

Yet, it was the very foundation of Fitzgerald’s Devils that helped New Jersey stay afloat early to keep them in a game they probably should have trailed in.

The Devils were built to be a high-speed, high-skill team. When Jesper Bratt dished the assist of the season to Jack Hughes to give New Jersey an early 1-0 lead, the duo displayed the kind of elite talent that can pull teams out of the mud and steal two points.

This is without a doubt the nastiest assist I’ve witnessed covering the #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/gFoGwNjuil

— James Nichols (@JamesNicholsNHL) November 13, 2024

“We certainly weren’t perfect tonight. We needed [Jacob Markstrom] to have a great night like he did,” head coach Sheldon Keefe started. “But then there’s just great moments in the game. Obviously the play by Jesper Bratt to Jack Hughes to get us on the board, so now we’re in the lead all game, virtually. Or at least we didn’t trail[…] Then of course, the fight from Dillon, these kinds of moments are big, and it takes what it takes to be able to compete with the league’s best.”

And perhaps one of the most overlooked factors for any team in the NHL is the head coach. The Devils have the right guys behind the bench, sending the message. Keefe is thorough, transparent, and demands the best from his players on any given night.

“It took a lot of work, a lot of competitiveness from our guys. And it took some resilience too. There wasn’t a lot of space out there. You gotta find your way through that,” Keefe said. “I thought the first couple of shifts of the first period took us a bit to adjust to that, and again in the second period. But each time, our guys pushed through that. For me, we took a step here tonight in just really knowing and feeling what’s required to compete with the league’s best.”

The Devils will certainly have to prove they can play the way they did on Tuesday night consistently. However, it was evident that when everyone on the Devils is pulling the rope, Tom Fitzgerald pushed all the right buttons to build his roster in the offseason. The Devils and the Panthers get to tango again on Thursday, which is another big test that will tell us a lot about who this team is.

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