The New Jersey Devils headed into their building on Thursday to face the 31st-ranked Calgary Flames in an attempt to get back on track after seeing their four-game win streak end on Sunday. Instead, some lackluster play all around led to them suffering a second straight defeat, 5-4.
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Markstrom Starts 7th Straight & Struggles
Jacob Markstrom has been solid, yet pretty underrated since the calendar flipped to the New Year. That’s largely due to one very rough performance; coming into the night, if you removed the dreadful nine goals against on Jan. 6 on Long Island, he sported a .909 save percentage (SV%) in the other 15 games.
Over Markstrom’s career, he’s been the type of netminder that needs to stay pretty active to attain success. Head coach Sheldon Keefe has made a point of it multiple times and backed it up with his actions, giving Markstrom a seventh consecutive start tonight. It marked the first time a Devils netminder started that many in a row since Nico Daws also rattled off seven from Feb. 12-24, 2024.
Markstrom proceeded to let in three of his first ten shots against and five goals altogether, stopping 2.8 goals below expected (via Moneypuck).
Specifically, Markstrom seemed to be most upset with his fifth goal against: “Last goal is a tough one,” he said postgame. “You got to have that and give the guys a chance to claw and scratch back.”
Of course, nearly every netminder has a rough night here and there. But Jake Allen has been pretty successful this season in his own right — a 2.64 goals against average (GAA) and .907 SV%. It’s very clearly time to get Allen back in the crease on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Maxim Tsyplakov Sneakily Playing Well, Finally Rewarded
When the Devils acquired Maxim Tsyplakov from the New York Islanders in the Ondrej Palat deal, he seemed to be more of a throw-in/afterthought; after a solid first season on Long Island (35 P in 77 GP), he found himself out of favor pretty quickly (2 P in 37 GP).
Some thought that maybe he’d find his footing again with the Devils, but the Devils showed their level of confidence (or lack thereof) by placing him on waivers before the Trade Deadline.
However, he cleared waivers and returned to the Devils’ lineup, where he’s started to find his footing. He was finally rewarded with his first Devils goal in the opening frame.
We’ll have what he’s Tsypin' on. pic.twitter.com/BQIOM1lYzA
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 12, 2026
Coming into the night, in his last three games, the Devils had outchanced the opposition 11-4 with Tsyplakov on the ice. During that span, Tsyplakov’s 11.95 scoring chances per 60 (SCF/60) trailed only three Devils players — it was even ahead of Jack Hughes (fifth, 8.75 SCF/60).
Small sample, sure, but maybe there’s something yet to be unlocked in Tsyplakov? We shall see.
Rough Night for Jack Hughes
Pre-Olympics, Jack Hughes faced heavy scrutiny for not playing in the final few games leading up to the break. While it appeared to be a case of unfortunate timing, a lot of the anger was likely because of his diminished offensive production; leading up to the Olympics, he had just one goal in 23 games while playing with a brace that hindered his mobility.
He got the brace off ahead of the Olympics and showed what he could do there, instantly becoming an American hero with his Golden Goal. Now, that offensive prowess has carried over to the Devils:
Since returning, he has 11 points (4G, 7A) in eight games, including a wicked wrister that went by fellow American and netminder Dustin Wolf tonight, plus an assist on his brother Luke’s late goal. It’s unfortunate that his hand injury got in the way of what has otherwise been yet another elite individual offensive season for Jack.
That Jack Hughes goal/shot location looks… awfully familiar 🤔
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 13, 2026
The Gold Medalist has 4G-6A-10P in 8GP since the Olympics 🔥 pic.twitter.com/L61kpsrys9
It probably shows how good of a player Jack is that he still put up multiple points in what was otherwise a very disappointing effort. “I know that my line was on for the first four [goals against], so that’s on us,” said Jack postgame. “Just, you know, probably not being tight enough. So yeah, just frustrating loss.”
Keefe added, “Just a lot of very sloppy play, until Jack shot the puck in the net, I don’t know if he handled one puck clean, it just wasn’t clean.”
Jack skated with Jesper Bratt and Connor Brown tonight, who also struggled for most of the night. It’s not solely on Jack, but this was still a rare night where he wasn’t on his A-game.
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 32-31-2 — will remain home on Saturday to face the Kings (7:00 PM EDT).
