The New Jersey Devils headed to the Windy City on Wednesday night to face the Chicago Blackhawks. On the heels of a heroic hat-trick performance from 21-year-old Simon Nemec, they gutted out a 4-3 overtime victory to improve to 12-4-1.
Related: Nemec Hat Trick Lifts Devils to 4-3 Overtime Win Over Blackhawks
Simon Nemec Has Arrived.
While it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Nemec at the NHL level, it seems like when the team has needed him most, he’s stepped up. After Spencer Knight stopped the Devils’ first 22 shots, Nemec clutched up with a second period game-tying tally on the backhand. Then things looked bleak again as the Devils were down late in the third, and Nemec tied it up once more with a perfect sharp angle shot.
Thought that was all? Nemec picked the top corner against Knight in overtime, securing the win and becoming the second New Jersey Devils’ defenseman to ever score a hat-trick. The team spilled off the bench in pure jubilation for the 21-year-old kid.
SIMON NEMEC HATTY FOR THE OT WINNER 🎩
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 13, 2025
FULL ICE PASS FROM MARKSTROM 🤯 pic.twitter.com/LGj5iQXw9U
This is an important lesson in letting prospects develop. The Devils had been repeatedly chastised for taking Nemec over Utah’s Logan Cooley…but as it stands, Nemec — a defenseman — has just one fewer point than Cooley this season. According to Hockey Stat Cards, Nemec’s performance was the fourth-best single game performance by an individual player in the entire NHL this season.
Incredibly Dominant Performance from New Top Six
It was no secret that after a great start, the Devils’ second line of Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer had mightily struggled for a few games. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said as much to NJD.TV on Wednesday morning: “Nico’s line hasn’t been going well for quite a while now. I think it’s time [to change it up]. A bit of a different look for us.”
Tonight, Keefe moved Arseny Gritsyuk and Dawson Mercer to the top line, still centered by Jack Hughes. Jesper Bratt was bumped down to the second line to play on his off-wing with Meier and Hischier. The result was phenomenal.
Each of those two lines contributed to a goal. But their underlying dominance will boggle your mind: when they were on the ice, the Devils out-attempted the Blackhawks 41-19 and out chanced them 19-1. High danger chances were 10-0 in the Devils’ favor. Wow. (via Natural Stat Trick)
“I’m thrilled the guys get rewarded with two points,” said Keefe. “Because I felt they played very, very well as a team.”
Injuries Galore…
Injuries have plagued the Devils since the 2023-24 season. While fans hoped that an end would soon be in sight, this season thus far has been a nightmare. A few days ago, defenseman Brenden Dillon joked that the Devils should “sage the place”. Or maybe it wasn’t a joke…
By the first period buzzer, the Devils were down forwards Zack MacEwen and Cody Glass: MacEwen was rocked by Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy and hobbled to the bench, seemingly not able to put much weight one of his legs. He didn’t return. Cody Glass went hard into the boards and it seemed like his shoulder made first impact. He tried to tough it out but eventually went back down the tunnel and similarly never returned.
Both Glass and MacEwen had recently returned from injury and were making positive impacts, just to find themselves back on an injury report. Team reporter Amanda Stein said postgame that there was “no update” on either.
Coming into the night, the Devils had already lost 83 man-games to injury. It feels like that number exponentially grows. But…the Devils have been super resilient, consistently pulling out wins when down key players. This feels like a carryover of the playoffs where the team scratched and clawed — never going down easy — no matter what was thrown at them. A lot can be said about the character of this team, which may help them reach greater heights come playoff time.
Moving Forward
The Devils will return to action on Saturday as they continue their road trip against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals (7:00 PM EST).
