Devils Let Another Winnable Game Slip On Costly Special Teams Mistakes

Nick Schmaltz's impressive performance pushes the Utah Mammoth to a historic victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Nick Schmaltz kept the Utah Mammoth rolling Tuesday night, scoring his NHL-best fifth goal of the season in a 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Utah’s power play did a lot of the heavy lifting again. The Mammoth went 2 for 4 with the man advantage and have now cashed in on 8 of 13 opportunities this season. Clayton Keller got one in the first period, and Schmaltz delivered the go-ahead goal midway through the second to make it 3-2.

The rest of the scoring came from MacKenzie Weegar, Lawson Crouse and Vincent Trocheck, giving Utah enough offense to hold off a New Jersey team that got two goals from Luke Evangelista and one from Jesper Boqvist.

Mikhail Sergachev was all over the ice before leaving late in the second period after taking a puck to the back of the helmet. He finished with three assists, pushing him past 300 for his career.

His second helper came on Weegar’s goal early in the second period, which marked the 300th assist in Sergachev’s 634th NHL game. He also set up Schmaltz’s goal and collected his seventh career four-assist game, and his fourth in his last 32 contests.

Schmaltz added two assists of his own, including the feed on Trocheck’s late goal with 3:08 left that stretched the lead to 5-3.

Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves for Utah, while Jake Allen stopped 26 for New Jersey.

The win was a first for the Mammoth against the Devils. Utah had gone 0-4 in the franchise’s previous two seasons.

New Jersey also lost Jonas Siegenthaler to an injury early in the third period.

The Mammoth visit Boston on Thursday.

In Other News...

Devils Have An Early Weakness Keefe Cant Ignore

The Devils early season has already shown a familiar stress point, and it is not hard to spot why Sheldon Keefe is paying close attention. New Jersey has been giving up too many goals in bunches, including recent games against the Islanders and Utah Mammoth, and the issue has quickly moved beyond a one-off bad night. Keefe has pointed to defensive habits and the little details in front of the net, the kind of breakdowns that can make a game feel much harder than it should.

Penalty killing has also been part of the concern, which only adds to the urgency as the schedule keeps moving. The Devils are working to clean up those issues before they harden into something bigger, because early defensive slippage can linger if it is not addressed quickly. For a team trying to establish its identity, the next few games will say plenty about whether this is just a rough patch or a problem that needs more than a few corrections. [Read more 🡒]

ESPN Just Gave Devils Fans Another Reason To Defend Nico Hischier

ESPNs latest ranking of the NHLs top 100 players for the 2026-27 season gave Devils fans another familiar debate to pick at, with Nico Hischier landing 54th after being placed 23rd in the previous version. For a player who has become the face of New Jerseys leadership group and one of the steadier two-way centers in the league, the slide raised eyebrows well beyond Newark, especially given the way the list is framed as a look ahead rather than a simple recap of last season.

The comparison points make the ranking even harder to square. Aleksander Barkov, who missed the entire prior season, was placed ahead of Hischier, while Connor Bedard came in at 43rd despite an expected injury absence early in the year. For Devils fans, it is the kind of list that invites an instant defensive reaction, because Hischiers value has never been tied to flash alone, and the gap between reputation, production and outside perception still seems to be widening. [Read more 🡒]

Devils Loss Exposed A Roster Problem Fans Cant Ignore

The loss to the Utah Mammoth put a familiar Devils issue back in the spotlight: once the top six stop driving play, the offense can run dry in a hurry. Sheldon Keefe pointed to the gap in talent and scoring support beyond Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and the rest of the clubs best forwards, a problem that has lingered whenever the top group is quiet or dealing with injury.

For a while, New Jersey could lean on speed as a separator, but that edge has narrowed as more teams around the league have caught up. With that in mind, management has already started looking for ways to rework the roster, and Sunny Mehtas group now faces a clear test of whether it can add the kind of depth that keeps the Devils dangerous even when the stars are not carrying everything. [Read more 🡒]