The New Jersey Devils headed into Saturday night’s contest against the Utah Mammoth in hopes to earn a second straight win for the first time in seven contests. On the heels of some long overdue successful execution from their stars, they came away with a key 4-1 victory.
Related: Devils Sweep Season Series Against Mammoth With 4-1 Win
Finish & Timely Saves
Fundamentally, not much of the Devils’ first period was different from many of their first periods during their losing streak. Per Natural Stat Trick, scoring chances (11-11) and high danger chances (4-4) were dead even between the two teams, yet the Devils left the ice to an ovation rather than boos.
The difference? The Devils’ stars — Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt — both finished chances, while Jacob Markstrom made every necessary stop (+1.38 goals saved above expected — GSAx). Instances like this have been few and far between.
Great awareness by Jesper Bratt to get the puck in the net here. His playmaking has been Jesper Bratt-like this year, but he knows he needs to score more. This is it.
— Vinnie Parise (@VinnieParise) January 3, 2026
Nico Hischier can’t stop fighting. pic.twitter.com/ZiZEeEPOou
When all was said and done, the Devils scored four goals (+0.81 goals above expected). Even including that, they’ve still scored 22.58 goals below expected in their last 17 games. Just finishing at a league average rate could have completely flipped the narrative of their season. Now is a great time to start.
“It’s good to see some pucks falling,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe postgame. “We’ve liked a lot about the process … [Goals like we scored today] haven’t been going our way for quite a while. It’s nice to see that happen. It’s amazing how much better you feel about yourself and your game when that occurs. Reality is I don’t know if we’ve been that much better today than we have been in previous games. It’s just that pucks are going in.”
“It’s a new year coming up, 2026, and you know, to come back in Columbus like that was a huge morale boost for our group and a shot of confidence,” said defenseman Brett Pesce. “It’s awesome to see us kind of roll in to today’s game with it.”
Jacob Markstrom Was Exceptional
During his career, Jacob Markstrom’s best two months have been December and January. While he’s notoriously a slow starter, fans are seeing him get back to playing stellar hockey.
He stopped 30 of 31 (.968%) tonight, including a multitude of high danger chances (+0.81 above expected). In fact, the Devils actually got outplayed today; even strength scoring chances were 29-19 in favor of the Mammoth. But the Devils had their netminder step up, which is something they haven’t gotten as often as they would have liked this season.
“Our goaltending has been outstanding all through this,” said Keefe.
Including today’s performance, since Dec. 19, Markstrom has a remarkable .944 save percentage — third among 45 goalies to have 3+ starts during that timeframe. And especially after his immensely frustrating rocky start, it has to feel extra good for him.
Stars Shine Bright
It’s not just that the Devils finished their chances today, but it’s who did the finishing. In their last 10 games played, Meier, Bratt, Nico Hischier and Dougie Hamilton had combined for just six goals. In just the first two periods tonight, they each found the back of the net — a 900% increase in production.
While it’s unfair to expect them all to score every night, it’s also unfair to expect them to finish at the rate they had been. For reference: last season, they combined to score 1.2 goals per game — still 5x better than their recent stretch. All four are way too talented to keep struggling…and today was a great step in the right direction.
“Those guys, you know, they’re the drivers of your team,” said Keefe. “Talking about the confidence that comes with scoring, it’s important for those guys … I don’t think we’re too picky. I wasn’t overly upset, you know, when [Arseny] Gritsyuk and Luke [Hughes] were scoring for us the other night. We’ll take them wherever they come from. But you know, for those [top] guys, it was just a matter of time for it to start falling in, and if we can get more of that and that continues, that’s great … [Utah has] been the best defensive team in the league the last five games … so it was a challenge for us today, but when those guys start feeling it, they’re a lot to handle.”
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 22-17-2 — will get right back in action tomorrow (Saturday) as they remain home for a monumental test against the Carolina Hurricanes (7:00 PM EST).
