The New Jersey Devils finished their road trip with a New Year’s Eve contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets. A fiery third period surge propelled them to a gutsy 3-2 victory, sending them into 2026 on a high note.
Related: Blue Jackets Two-Minute Lapse In Third Leads Devils to Victory
Lack of Fireworks on New Year’s Eve
When both teams previously matched up on Dec. 1, it was absolute mayhem. They combined for a whopping 74 penalty minutes. Following the match, Devils’ forward Paul Cotter said, “I’m sure it’s gonna be quite the match next time we play [Columbus].”
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets advertised the night as “Knockout New Year’s Eve”, complete with a promo video featuring enforcer Mathieu Olivier boxing with former world heavyweight champion Buster Douglas. But despite many expecting fireworks, fans were treated to the hockey equivalent of a handful of poppers being dropped in someone’s backyard. In other words, there wasn’t much more physicality than the average game.
It mostly makes sense as both teams — currently out of the playoff picture — couldn’t really afford to take any unnecessary penalties. However, unlike that earlier contest, it was the Devils getting the last laugh this time.
Finally…Positive Finishing
Coming into the night, the Devils had astonishingly scored 23.73 goals below expected…in their last 15 games! That was ~10 goals worse than any other NHL team during that span. (via Natural Stat Trick)
The first two periods looked like the same story that has replayed itself time and time again. Through two, the Devils had 22 shots and nothing to show for it. But all of a sudden, they came alive.
In the span of a minute and 57 seconds, they scored three goals: Nico Hischier, Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes, giving them a 3-2 lead.
DEVILS SCORE 3 IN 2 MINUTES TO GO FROM DOWN 2-0 TO UP 3-2 OH MY 😱🚨 pic.twitter.com/s5wSVoyzdr
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 1, 2026
At the end of the day, fans can debate for hours about different philosophies to make a team successful. But everyone is on agreement on one thing: scoring more goals than the other team is what’s most important. There’s no question that the Devils still need a finisher regardless; they finish the calendar year 2025 with 32.00 goals below expected. With that being said, there’s at least been some poor luck involved. How much of it is bad luck versus poor finishing may never be known, but a night like tonight could help restore some confidence and reverse that tough luck.
Special Teams Success
Coming into the night, since Dec. 7, the Devils’ special teams had been abysmal. Their power play percentage of 12.5% was the third worst in the league during that span. Their 58.3% success rate on the penalty kill was dead last.
Finally, after many games lost due to their special teams, they helped win them a game for a pleasant change. The Devils’ first goal was a power play goal, just seconds into their man advantage.
Then, when they had to kill off a penalty late, they successfully did so. Now in all honesty, their special teams haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt; they need to start stringing multiple successful showings together. Nonetheless, tonight was a great start.
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 21-17-2 — will look to win a second straight on Saturday as they face the Utah “Mammoth” at Prudential Center for the first time ever (3:00 PM EST).
