The New Jersey Devils took the ice for pregame introductions to a raucous, sold-out crowd of 16,514 people. They clearly fed off that energy, dominating the reigning champion Florida Panthers en route to a 3-1 victory.
“We lost our home opener last year,” said goaltender Jake Allen. “It’s always important. It’s bigger than a game in February. It means a lot to [our fans]. They’ve been waiting a long time for a game, so I’m glad we got the win for them.”
Related: Devils Defeat Panthers 3-1 in Home Opener Victory
Incredible Effort from Dawson Mercer
This one play deserves a takeaway all on its own: Dawson Mercer — Derek Jeter-esque — went full extension to dive and keep a play alive, poking the puck to Nico Hischier who buried a massive insurance goal. If you haven’t seen, it’s a must watch:
That Cap is one crazy cat. pic.twitter.com/NLbjZM33lH
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 17, 2025
After the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe elaborated on how that kind of buy-in is an expectation, which we’ve seen throughout the lineup:
“That’s what it takes…Effort is a requirement to just play in the league, but to be great, it’s second and third efforts. You have to give a little bit more than your opponent.”
Jake Allen Stands Tall
With Jacob Markstrom out for a few weeks (lower body), Jake Allen is now tasked with the responsibility of being the team’s number one netminder. Tonight, he certainly proved capable of handling that.
He stopped 21 of 22 (.955%) including two high danger chances. He was locked in. It should come as no surprise; last season, he was arguably the best backup netminder in the league. His production could have made him a starter on most teams, as his +18.4 goals saved above expected was a top-10 mark in the NHL despite only getting 31 appearances. (via MoneyPuck)
The New Jersey Devils salute the crowd before the start of their home opener against the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center (Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images)
Allen will likely always be slept on for as long as Markstrom remains the team’s number one, but that shouldn’t be the case. He’s been phenomenal as a Devil.
Timo & Jack Getting Hot
Timo Meier has been under criticism since arriving to New Jersey, as fans have expected more goal production outside of the month of March. He’s quickly putting an end to that right now, with goals in three straight games.
The talent has been undeniable and the high level of chance creation and assertiveness has always been there, but it’s been a lack of finishing that has plagued him at times. If he’s putting it all together now: Watch out, league.
Jack Hughes started his season goal-less in three games to go along with two assists and a minus-2 rating. Forget about the numbers; from the eye test alone, he hadn’t quite looked like his dominant self yet.
He looked a little out of sync to start the game but started to gain his legs. It felt like a breakthrough was coming — early on in the second, it finally did. Not only did he draw a penalty to send the Devils to the man advantage, but he scored on the ensuing power play with a picture-perfect snipe past Daniil Tarasov. He led the Devils in expected goals, scoring chances and high-danger chances…and the eye test confirmed: he looked like Jack Hughes again. (via Natural Stat Trick)
The last two games, Meier has been rotating the flanks on PP1 and bumper along with Jack and Jesper Bratt…and the results have been outstanding. While they finished with just one power play goal, they could have easily notched three if Tarasov didn’t stand on his head.
Last season, Meier was used exclusively as a net-front when he was on PP1, and it didn’t work too well. The changes this season have worked like a charm thus far:
“We’ve got more rotations and more freedom for guys to move about,” said Keefe. “I thought how they moved the puck and the quality of scoring chances that we had, it worked well here today. We’ve really looked at it and kind of studied it. Jeremy [Colliton]’s done a lot of work in this area and looking at different styles of penalty kills and how we can attack them. And we think that we have more than five options for one power play unit to be a very lethal unit. And it’s on us as coaches to manage that.”
Honorable Mention: Penalty Kill
The Devils have probably been to the box much more than they’d like. Including four times tonight, their season total has risen to 15 in four games. But remarkably: they’ve allowed just one power play goal in that span; they effectively killed off all four tonight against a lethal Panthers’ man advantage.
Moving Forward
The Devils will be back on action on Saturday afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers (Prudential Center, 3:30 PM EDT) as they look to grab their first four-game win streak in over 1,000 days.
