The Devils are rolling, and the way they’re winning says plenty about where this team is right now. New Jersey sits at 12-5-0 a little more than a month into 2026-27, riding a four-game winning streak and leaning hard into tight, stressful games. Three straight have needed extra time or a shootout, and after Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime win over the New York Islanders, the Devils will try to complete their first back-to-back sweep of the season tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That game in Toronto opens the second half of a three-game road trip, but the bigger picture is the same one New Jersey has been building all month: this group keeps finding answers when the game gets messy. All three of the Devils’ November games have gone past regulation. It started with a 4-3 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, when New Jersey gave up a one-goal lead a minute into the third period before Connor Hellebuyck and Arseny Gritsyuk finished the job in the shootout.
The next night brought more drama. Against the St.
Louis Blues, the Devils watched a lead slip away again as the Blues scored three unanswered goals to tie it at four. Jesper Bratt ended it 1:26 into overtime and kept the streak moving.
Then came the Islanders game, which might have been the most dramatic of the bunch. New Jersey was down two after 40 minutes and staring at a possible collapse, but Luke Evangelista and Dougie Hamilton scored in the third period to set up Jack Hughes’s overtime winner.
The Devils have not lost beyond regulation this season. They’ve picked up four overtime wins and one shootout victory, and those extra-time points account for 41.7% of the team’s 24 points. That kind of resilience has become a defining part of their season so far.
One player still waiting for the offense to catch up is Timo Meier. Entering 2026-27, he was one of the biggest names to watch for a make-or-break year, and this is year four of eight on his contract, which carries an $8.8 million cap hit.
The production hasn’t come early. Meier had one goal and four assists in October and hasn’t scored since Oct. 27 against the Dallas Stars.
The numbers behind his slump tell a different story than the box score. He’s second on the team with 65 shots on goal, behind only Hughes, and he ranks in the 98th percentile among NHL forwards in shots.
His 21 high-danger shots are nearly three times the average forward’s total of eight. According to MoneyPuck, he’s averaging 6.8 shot attempts per game, but he’s only converted at a 1.5 shooting percentage.
Even so, he’s already had five or more shots on goal six times, which suggests the chances are there.
Tuesday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets brings another major storyline, especially for Hellebuyck. It will be his first meeting with his former team since being traded to the Devils, and it comes in the final game of the road trip. The last time the Devils and Jets met, Hellebuyck was in net for Winnipeg in a 4-3 win over New Jersey at Prudential Center.
On Wednesday, the three-time Vezina Trophy winner posted on social media to thank Jets fans for their support over the years and to wish the community well.
The matchup also puts Dawson Mercer and Nico Daws across from New Jersey for the first time. Mercer spent the first five seasons of his career with the Devils and played all 82 games in each of those seasons, setting a franchise record with 420 consecutive games played. He appeared in 10 games for New Jersey this season before being sent to Winnipeg in the Hellebuyck trade.
Daws is another name worth watching. He still hasn’t picked up his first win with the Jets, and he left New Jersey on a high note after posting a .938 save percentage in a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. For now, the Devils appear to have the edge in the trade, but Tuesday will add another layer to that story.
New Jersey’s week also includes a pair of meetings with the Washington Capitals. The Devils host Washington on Thursday at Prudential Center, looking to bounce back from a 4-2 loss on Oct. 17, then head to Capital One Arena on Saturday for another Metropolitan Division test.
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Washington also had to navigate a long stretch without Tom Wilson after a major penalty and ejection changed the feel of the night, which only made the response more notable. Aliaksei Protas and Pierre-Luc Dubois were part of the scoring mix as the Capitals protected their lead and found a way to finish a game they could not afford to let slip away. [Read more 🡒]
Capitals Have One Early Problem That Could Derail A Promising Start
The early returns around Washington have been encouraging in a lot of ways, with the roster looking deeper and more balanced than it did a year ago. Even so, one issue is hanging over the start enough to keep the optimism in check: the Capitals have not gotten steady enough play in net, and that matters even more on a team trying to turn a promising opening into something sustainable.
For a club that has made clear progress elsewhere, the next stretch will be about whether the goaltending can settle in and support the rest of the lineup. Washington also needs its younger forwards to keep pushing the offense forward, because the path from a decent start to a real one depends on more than just the veterans carrying the load. [Read more 🡒]