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Here’s How the Devils Got Their Swagger Back Despite Missing Key Players

Special teams, five-on-five, goaltending. It was all there on Wednesday when the Devils got their swagger back against the Flyers.

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New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes is congratulated by Timo Meier (28) after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

NEWARK—After the New Jersey Devils put up a pretty embarrassing effort on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers, they responded with a big win that indicated their swagger is back, despite missing some key players.



READ MORE: Dillon Sets Tone; Devils Power Play Erupts; Allen Stellar in Shutout Over Flyers

The Flyers are a team on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. However, if nothing else, a John Tortorella-led team will always play with structure, and won’t give any less than 100%. Earlier in the week, that combination spelled loss for New Jersey. Yet, on Wednesday, without Nico Hischier and Jacob Markstrom, the Devils looked more like themselves.

It didn’t start that way, however. In the first period, the Flyers out-shot and out-chanced the Devils. Yet, they were buoyed by their luxury backup goaltender Jake Allen who made 10 saves in the opening frame, four in high-danger.

“Yeah, I agree with that. There are great moments, I thought, about Jake’s performance in the first period that gave us life and kept us in the fight,” Keefe explained. “And then we got, got better and better, obviously… It was sort of a reversal of what happened last time out. So, yeah, that was tremendous.”

The Devils started the second period on the power play as a result of Morgan Frost hooking Jesper Bratt toward the end of the first period.

As opposed to the Devils’ sloppy power play on Monday, Ondrej Palat opened the scoring on the first man advantage, capitalizing on New Jersey cycling the puck and creating a secondary scoring chance.

Scoring first, and on the power play, was a good step in the right direction.

However, despite the 1-0 lead, it didn’t feel like the Devils quite had control of the game at that point.

It wasn’t until Brenden Dillon upended Owen Tippett with a big, clean, open-ice hit that took the Flyers forward out of the game.

“Yeah, that’s fair to say, for sure,” Keefe responded when asked if Dillon’s hit was the turning point of Wednesday’s contest.

“That’s when the emotions really came up. We asked our team to really bring more emotion and competitiveness. I thought Dillon maybe was one of the few guys that was really kind of the only one standing his ground when we were down in Philly, and we needed more tonight. But, he led the way in that regard. And big moment in the game. I’ve looked at it again, it looks like [the hit] is as clean as it gets. Similar to the hit the other night on [Nathan] Bastian. So that was great, you know? Fans got into it, players got into it, and then we didn’t look back.”

What followed as a result of the sequence was a heightened sense of physicality and chippy-ness in an already grinding game.

The Devils harnessed the energy brought on by Dillon and the ensuing scrums between Kurtis MacDermid, Garnet Hathaway, among others, and found suddenly found their speed and skill.

Luke Hughes pounced on a turnover in the Devils’ end of the ice, looked his brother off on an odd-man rush, and doubled New Jersey’s lead.

Bastian then extracted his revenge on the Flyers, pushing the puck over the Flyers’ goal line during the Devils’ second power play for a 3-0 lead.

But perhaps the most interesting development of the night was the trio of Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, and Stefan Noesen.

Minus their captain, Mercer has been elevated to the second-line center role. The trio of Meier, Mercer, and Noesen were the Devils’ most dangerous group of forwards at 5-on-5, accruing eight scoring chances and allowed just two.

Meier, working as the play driver of the group, found Mercer in the Flyers’ slot at the right circle, feeding him for a goal on Samuel Ersson’s back door.

“We’re finding chemistry. And, you know, it starts with hard work,” Meier explained. “We’re just getting pucks down there and hunting the pucks down, forechecking well. That’s how we create stuff. That’s how we created stuff today. Good sticks off the forecheck, skating, closing the gap to the defense. So that’s that’s something that gave us success [on Wednesday].”

In the third period, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt did what they do best. They took advantage, converting on a 2-on-1 situation with a slick give and go sequence that ended in the back of the Flyers’ net.

Amid a tough stretch of games coming out of the Christmas break, the Devils almost seemed disinterested. They lacked the pep in their step they had in the month of December that propelled them to a dominant month.

There was a belief following the 5-0 win that the energy has returned.

Overall, Wednesday’s win was a very Devils-like win. New Jersey showed this type of pedigree already this season, consistently. They lost it a bit there, but they believe they can hang onto it moving forward.

“Our goalie was outstanding. Then special teams, five on five, all four lines. So, that’s more like us,” Meier concluded. “Last game, we weren’t happy the way we competed, especially the way we started last game. So, the first period, I thought we dipped our toes in a little bit, but then our second period was really good. That’s the way you want to play. That’s the way this team is going to have success. This game today is definitely something you want to build on.”

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