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It would have been easy for the New Jersey Devils to throw in the towel on their season after Tom Fitzgerald was fired.

For a couple of games, it looked like that would be the case.

The Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers by a 5-1 score, then suffered a similar fate in a 5-2 defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But to the Devils’ credit, they picked up their game in a weekend back-to-back with the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators.

They eliminated the Red Wings from playoff contention with a 5-3 win, then rallied for a 4-3 OT win over the Ottawa Senators after blowing a 2-0 lead. Here’s a recap of the weekend’s games.

The Devils did not get off to a good start in Detroit. They were outshot 10-0 before Justin Faulk gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. It could have gone downhill from there, but the Devils had a response.

Jack Hughes, a left-handed shot, came down the right side on a 2-on-1 and fired a shot over the pad and between the arm of John Gibson to tie the game.

From there, it was a competitive tilt.

The Devils and Red Wings traded punches, but Hughes and Jesper Bratt were too much for the Red Wings to handle. Bratt tied the game at 2-2 in the second via a great seeing-eye shot from the point that found its way through multiple screens.

After Cody Glass tied the game again in the third, Hughes and Bratt linked up on another 2-on-1. This time, it was Hughes who made a great cross-ice pass to Bratt for the go-ahead tally. Gibson had no chance to make the save on it.

Bratt finished with two goals and an assist, while Hughes had a goal and an assist. Bratt and Hughes both finished with an expected goals share (xG%) of 61.3 percent at five-on-five in what was a strong five-on-five team performance.

For the game, the Devils generated 4.04 expected goals and 20 high-danger chances at five-on-five. They had nothing to play for, while the Red Wings, as slim as their playoff hopes were, still had plenty on the line.

Perhaps more impressively, the Devils came back from three separate deficits to put the Red Wings’ season to bed. Granted, they were all one-goal deficits, but the Devils showed some resiliency.

It may not have mattered much in the standings, but playing spoiler is always fun.

The Senators clinched a playoff spot on Saturday with their 3-0 win over the New York Islanders and the Devils’ win over the Red Wings. They had nothing to play for yesterday, hence why head coach Travis Green rested many of the team’s star players.

For a while, it looked like the Devils would cruise to an easy win. They got off to a 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Nico Hischier and Connor Brown, and they had another called back via an offside review.

But to the Senators’ credit, they showed plenty of character.

The Senators skated the Devils into the ground in the second period, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead. They took the life out of a lively arena in the Devils’ home finale, but the crowd stuck with it and helped the Devils rally in the third.

Dawson Mercer scored a beautiful shorthanded goal, his 20th goal of the season, to tie the game up. And that would be good enough to get it to overtime, where Hischier won it with a power-play tally.

It would have been easy for the Devils to throw in the towel in the third period in what was a meaningless game for both teams, but they played quite well.

The Devils totaled an xG% of 55.41 percent in the third period, and a couple of questionable calls from the referees helped the crowd come to life. You could tell the team fed off that energy, and it helped spark the comeback.

Once again, the Bratt, Hughes, and Brown line was a problem. The Devils had a 14-4 shot attempt advantage and an xG% of 60.81 percent with this trio on the ice for the game. They’re a significant reason why the Devils are 14-7-1 across the last 22 games.

Just as they did in Detroit, the Devils showed some resiliency after blowing a 2-0 lead. We didn’t see enough of that this season, especially before the Olympics, but the effort is still there, even with nothing left to play for in the standings.

Nico Daws made his second start of the season against the Senators, his first since October. He may have given up three goals, but he played quite well. There’s nothing he could have done on any of the goals, and the numbers back that up. He allowed three goals on 3.18 expected goals, so he stopped what he should have. He made 3-4 big-time saves in the final 30-40 seconds of regulation to help get the game to overtime. He should get the nod tomorrow in the team’s 2025-26 finale against the Boston Bruins since there’s nothing left to play for, and it’d help to get him more reps in the NHL.

Topias Vilén, a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft, made his NHL debut against the Senators. He played quite well, totaling an xG% of 62.2 percent on a pairing with Johnathan Kovacevic. He played a simple game and didn’t try to do too much. I’d expect him to get another look in the team’s finale against the Bruins tomorrow night.

Mercer is having a strong close to the season, having totaled five goals and six points across his last seven games. It’s been his best season since the 2022-23 campaign, when he totaled 27 goals and 56 points in 82 games. It’ll be interesting to see what the next front office decides to do with him.

The Devils played quite well during this back-to-back, but it was a rough weekend for the Brenden Dillon and Šimon Nemec pairing. They had negative game scores in each game and had a particularly difficult outing against the Red Wings. Nemec certainly isn’t doing himself any favors with his play to close the season. We’ll see what the next front office decides to do with him, too.

Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick