On Monday night, the Devils defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-2. After a disastrous start to their road trip, which saw the Devils lost the first 3 games in a row, the Devils were able to close out the trip with a victory. The win was their 1st in their last 5 games, and only their 3rd in their last 11 games.

Jacob Markstrom got the start and gave the Devils a chance to win (or as I like to call it, he did his job), only letting up 2 goals. It helped that on the same night, the offense decided to do their job for once too. I would assume that Keefe goes back to Jake Allen for the game tonight, as Markstrom has not started in back to back games since 12/3 and 12/5. However, at this point in the season, crazier things have happened, so we shall have to wait and see.

Dawson Mercer got the Devils on the board at 10:07 of the 1st period to give the good guys a 1-0 lead heading into the 2nd period. Ryan Hartman tied it up for the Wild at 13:41 of the 2nd, before Ondrej Palat scored with 8 seconds left in the period to give the Devils back the lead at 2-1. I assure you, I double checked it. It’s correct. Palat did in fact score a goal. His 3rd of the season. I can’t believe it either.

Jesper “Wait…I don’t HAVE to pass every time I have the puck?” Bratt scored not once, but twice…less than a minute apart in the 3rd period to put the Devils up 4-1. Dougie “I’m confused, do you guys want me or no?” Hamilton had assists on both Bratt goals. In a sure sign that hell is about to freeze over, Palat scored his second goal of the game at 9:39 of the 3rd. Yes folks, Palat matched his goal total, for the entire season so far, in one game. Marcus Foligno added a meaningless PP goal at 19:41 of the 3rd and the Devils won 5-2.

On Monday, the Kraken defeated our hated rivals, the New York Rangers by a score of 4-2. Mika Zibanejad and Sam Carrick gave the rich New Yorkers who pretend to be actual hockey fans, but real hockey fans can’t afford tickets at MSG, so the arena is filled with these people instead Rangers faithful false hope with a 2-1 lead after the 1st period. However, the Kraken would go on to score 2 goals in the 2nd period and 2 more in the 3rd period to send the Rangers crowd home disappointed, which is always a good thing. So in this case, way to go Seattle!

Phillip Grubauer started in net against the Rangers on Monday. Considering that he hasn’t started back to back games since 11/13 and 11/15, I would expect Joe Daccord to get the start in net tonight against the Devils. Their game tonight against the Devils is their 3rd game of a 5 game road trip.

Injuries, Roster for Tonight, Yada, Yada, Yada.

In news which I still find hard to believe, the Devils actually have a healthy roster at the moment. I don’t want to jinx it, so I will not say it out loud, but I believe typing it out is safe. With the win, it is probably safe to assume that Hamilton will stay in the lineup tonight and that Nemec is back to being one of the players on the short list of those that are held accountable. However, it’s possible that the Devils are trying to shop Hamilton, so who knows if and when that happens (a trade) or if and when Nemec gets back into the lineup. As of this writing, I’d expect to see Hamilton play tonight, but we shall see what news comes out before the game tonight.

Grimace’s Prediction and 2025-2026 Record Tracker

Grimace was very pleased to see a win last night. For his mental sanity though, he’s still choosing to stay on his self induced break from predictions for now. His apologies.

Grimace’s 2025-2026 Season Prediction record currently stands at 12-10-0.

It was great to see the Devils get a win in their last game against Minnesota. It was a much needed win, at a minimum, to break the losing streak and the seemingly endless cycle of negativity. I am still of the view though, that it was 1 game. When they start winning, more than they lose, then I will start to have some more confidence. I am confident in this though. With everything that has been going on lately with this team, if the Devils come out flat tonight and/or play a stinker on the level of the 9-0 Islanders game, the home crowd is going to get absolutely brutal. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and thanks for reading!

In a shameless bit of non hockey related self promotion (approved by Chris – thanks Chris), I wanted to plug my brand new podcast on here, if any of you are interested in listening. We have a light hearted, fun discussion about any movies, music or video games mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. Please feel free to listen to us on any of the formats below and any feedback is welcome (positive and negative). Also, please follow us and subscribe, even if you think we stink. 🙂