Devils' 6-3 Loss to Hurricanes: A Bit Too Familiar
The New Jersey Devils hung around until the final few minutes of regulation, but their opening-night loss felt a bit too familiar
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If that felt a bit too familiar, I can’t blame you for feeling that way. In their 2025-26 season opener, the New Jersey Devils fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 6-3, although the game was tied 3-3 with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.
It’s only one game, so we’ll try our best not to overreact, but last night’s loss showed the Devils may still have a long way to go before seriously threatening the Hurricanes.
The Markström Experience
By no means did the Devils play well, but Jacob Markström did not have his best performance, either. All told, I’d say last night’s game summed up the Markström experience pretty well.
The Devils struggled in the first period and were consistently hemmed in their own end, but Markström made a few quality saves to keep the team in the game entering the first intermission. Dougie Hamilton scored in the second to tie the game up at 1-1, but Markström gave up a goal to K’Andre Miller that he’ll probably want back.
Granted, that muffin (as Rod Brind’Amour described it on the telecast) took a weird hop on Markström, but he’ll want to make a save on that one. Fortunately, the Devils responded and tied the game up on an absolute rip from Cody Glass, but Markström would eventually give up another clunker.
On a Hurricanes power play in the third, Miller walked in uncontested and fired a hard slap shot on net. The Devils’ penalty killers didn’t exactly provide much resistance on that play, but the puck went right through Markström, giving the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead.
While Markström made plenty of good saves, he also gave up a couple of costly clunkers. In all, he allowed five goals on 3.32 expected goals. The Devils need to tighten up defensively, but he also needs to be better than he was last night.
Familiar Bottom-6 Struggles
Scoring-wise, the players you expect to score got the job done for the Devils. As mentioned, Hamilton opened up the scoring, while Jesper Bratt got his first when he tied the game at 3-3 in the third.
It was good to see Glass get on the scoresheet, but who else from the bottom six will contribute offensively? All six of the Devils’ bottom-six forwards finished with expected goals shares (xG%) below 30 percent, even Glass.
That was too common a theme last season, but hopefully that won’t be the case again this season. Not many teams have the depth that the Hurricanes have; Taylor Hall and Jesperi Kotkaniemi are on their fourth line.
Last night’s game also highlighted how the Devils are still missing a quality top-six winger. The fact that we’re still talking about this more than 18 months after the Devils traded Tyler Toffoli to the Winnipeg Jets is a problem in itself, but it’s clearly still a glaring need.
Those depth concerns that we talked about in the Burning Questions article a few days ago popped up last night, so we’ll see what becomes of it to start this season. It also shows that the group misses Stefan Noesen, so hopefully he returns to action sooner rather than later.
Ultimately, last night was a clear reminder: if the Devils hope to truly contend with top teams like Carolina, their bottom six needs to be better, and they need to add a top-six winger.
Nemec Wasn’t as Bad as the Charts Said
If you looked at the charts from last night’s game without having watched, you may have come away thinking Šimon Nemec was the Devils’ worst player. At least by the eye, it didn’t seem that way.
There was a play in the first where Nemec broke up an odd-man rush and helped start the attack the other way. Those were the types of plays he struggled with last season, so that was a positive.
I didn’t really notice any glaring mistakes from Nemec, but his numbers were a bit discouraging. The Devils allowed 15 scoring chances and five high-danger chances when he was on the ice, the former of which was the most of any Devils skater.
Could it be the Brenden Dillon effect? We know he struggled defensively last season, so it’s possible it could affect Nemec’s numbers. Plus, the Hurricanes are a tough matchup for a young defenseman still trying to find his way in the NHL, so hopefully Nemec will only go up from here.
Quick Hits
Dougie Hamilton was one of the bright spots for the Devils last night. Aside from the goal, he was active offensively. He also played a solid game defensively, as he was on the ice for just one high-danger chance against. Nor was he afraid to show off some physicality, as he had a couple of big hits in the neutral zone that resulted in Hurricanes turnovers. Hamilton finished with an xG% of 50.62 percent, one of only six Devils skaters with an xG% above 50 percent. It was a solid opening game for him.
There was some good and some bad in Luke Hughes’ game. The good: the beautiful through pass he made to Glass on Glass’ goal. The bad: he struggled defending the rush a bit. There was a play in the second period where Nikolaj Ehlers completely cooked Hughes off the rush, but Markström bailed him out with a good save. It’s not surprising that Hughes was a bit off his game after not playing in the preseason, but it probably won’t take him long to get up to full speed.
Arseny Gritsyuk’s first NHL game did not go particularly well. The Devils got out-chanced 12-1 when he was on the ice, but the Hurricanes are among the most difficult opponents for a rookie making his NHL debut. He’ll learn from it.
Evgenii Dadonov took just a couple of shifts in the third period before leaving the game with an injury. He took a shot off his hand, but X-rays came back negative, so hopefully he won’t miss any time. The Devils don’t exactly have the winger depth to lose him for an extended period.
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Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick