Following a tough loss in Carolina, the New Jersey Devils flew back home without much time to harp on it; they had to face the Chicago Blackhawks less than 24 hours later.
The scoreboard doesn’t do it justice; in one of their most dominant offensive efforts of the season, a lack of finishing only made it a 5-3 Devils win. Based on constant chances they created, it should’ve been a blowout.
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Jake Allen Hangs Tough After Flukey Bounce
Goaltender Jake Allen has been rock solid for the majority of the 2025-26 campaign. But even the most seasoned of veterans are susceptible to some flukiness in this sport that consists of chasing rubber around while standing on frozen water with sharp blades. The Blackhawks got out to a quick 1-0 lead after a strange bounce led to Allen leaving the net wide open:
Jake Allen’s XBox remote died and the Hawks score 😂🚨 pic.twitter.com/WKZRrzfwlJ
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 29, 2026
He could have easily let that get to him, but instead he buckled down and stopped 26 of his next 28 shots, including a few key high danger saves towards the end. One of those goals against was a perfectly executed 5-on-3, too: unstoppable by any netminder.
“If that puck didn’t hit the glass, it’s a normal breakout,” said Allen postgame. “So that’s the way you’ve got to look at it. I’ve had a lot of bad goals in my career, and trust me, my career is far from over, so I’m sure there’s going to be more. So you can’t let it eat at you.”
According to Moneypuck, even with the tough start, Allen still saved +0.51 goals above expected. “If not for Jake, we’re not winning the game,” said captain Nico Hischier.
Between the tough performance and subsequent booing in early January, plus an injury, it feels like a lot of people have been waiting for Luke Hughes to find his stride — both this season and moving forward. Just due to the last name and contract alone, the expectations will always be higher for him.
Even if the scoresheet doesn’t show it, the process has been getting better for Luke for a while now. Tonight, with him on the ice, the Devils out chanced Chicago 27-9, including 17-2 (!!) in the high danger category. (via Natural Stat Trick)
Inarguably one of the best offensive games from the #NJDevils this season.
HockeyStats had them at 6.02 xG.
At 5v5, they had 81 shot attempts, 48 scoring chances, and 26 HD chances.
All situations? 90 shot attempts, 53 scoring chances, and 27 HD chances.
— JP Gambatese (@jp_gambatese) March 30, 2026
Since returning from injury on Feb. 28, the Devils have out chanced the opposition 145-107 (+38) in his 5v5 shifts. Many have touted Dougie Hamilton as the defenseman best able to get pucks through to the net — and while that may be true, it’s closer than some think: in that span, Luke has averaged 5.76 shots per 60; Hamilton 5.86.
For most of the season, Luke had mightily struggled to get pucks through. So even though the pucks aren’t falling too much, to see some legitimate improvement in that regard is a positive. He’s also been a big reason that the offense has succeeded off the rush post-Olympics.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe elaborated a bit postgame: “Jack [Hughes] is right there [at the top] in assisting others in getting plays off the rush and controlled entries, and Luke is right there, too. He and Luke are kind of another level compared to everyone else. That’s a statistical way to look at it. What those guys can bring in terms of pushing our offense on the rush and when we’ve had them both healthy and feeling good, we look a lot like we have.”
After adding an assist tonight, Luke has been playing to a ~47-point full season pace since his return. Development isn’t always linear, and there’s certainly a lot of room to grow, but things could be much worse for a 22-year-old. Based on the raw skill alone, there’s plenty of reason to believe.
Top Line Continues to Produce
The Devils’ top line of Jesper Bratt, Jack and Connor Brown has been dynamite in the last nine games — they’re 6-3-0 in that span.
How dynamite, you may ask? Combined, they have 40 points in those nine games. Jack, specifically, has been on a different planet after he scored the Golden Goal.
With four points tonight, Jack recorded his eighth multi-point effort in his last 13 games; he has 24 points in that span, a 151-point pace over a full season. That’ll play, huh?
In their games together as a line, both Brown (9P in 9 GP) and Bratt (13P in 9 GP) are playing to very high point paces as well. Tonight, that line generated ~2.20 expected goals, while the Blackhawks generated just ~0.35 in those shifts. That’s an 86.2% share of the on-ice expected goals; in other words, complete dominance.
And here’s this for a fun milestone watch: Jack is up to 414 points in 420 career games. While there’s only nine games remaining, there’s now a real possibility that he can become a career point-per-game player by season’s end.
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 38-33-2 — will return to action on Tuesday evening as they take a short bus ride to face their rival New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden (7:00 PM EDT).
