On top of the already-tight standings, Tuesday evening’s contest for the New Jersey Devils held some extra importance; John MacLean, who played 14 seasons for the Devils and won a Stanley Cup with them, got inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
With a ton of franchise legends in the building, the Devils’ late push wasn’t enough to overcome sloppy play as they fell to the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 4-3.
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Ondrej Palat Held Out of Lineup, Dealt Mid-Game
Aside from all the pregame festivities, there was an even bigger elephant in the room: Devils’ forward Ondrej Palat was held out of the lineup for “roster related reasons”, then subsequently traded to the New York Islanders. The news broke in the middle of the first period.
TRADE: #Isles acquire Ondrej Palat, a 2026 3rd round pick, and 2027 6th from #NJDevils for Maxim Tsyplakov
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) January 28, 2026
After the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe said, “It’s challenging but it’s part of the business. It’s part of the deal. We’ve got to press on … [with] that said, we’re going to miss Pally. He’s a tremendous guy, great leader, often is the example in terms of hard work and competitiveness in practices [and] games. Some of that, or a lot of that doesn’t show up on the scoresheet. He was given a hard time here because of that … for a team that’s been trying to get there, he’s a guy that’s been there, done that, and sets the example in a lot of ways.”
Goaltending Needs to Bail Out Defensive Woes
During the Devils’ three straight wins on their road trip, they allowed four 5v5 goals on 5.55 expected goals, meaning their goaltenders stopped plus-1.55 above expected, per Natural Stat Trick. But their defense also looked much better — their 2.20 expected goals against per 60 (xGA/60) was significantly better than their average of 2.74 xGA/GP. (~20% improvement)
With a chance to sweep the road trip, they responded in Seattle by allowing just 0.99 expected goals, yet Jacob Markstrom stopped 2.01 below expected. Sure, there were defensive breakdowns and mistakes at times, but the clear difference between the Seattle games and the rest of the road trip was the goaltender’s ability to bail the defense out.
Similarly, tonight against the Jets, the Devils’ defense allowed just 1.59 expected goals. On a per-60 basis, that was better than their season average. But Allen couldn’t come up with the big saves, allowing four goals (2.41 below expected).
Give me fuel, give me fire, give me a NINO ONE-TIMER 💥 pic.twitter.com/OtxFzkonJ7
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 28, 2026
In simpler terms, in the three road games won, Devils netminders had a .914 save percentage (SV%). In the two since, they have an .841 SV%.
While save percentage doesn’t always give the best picture, when the difference is that staggering, it raises eyebrows. With that all being said, the goaltender’s inability to come up with key saves shouldn’t leave the defense entirely without fault:
On multiple occasions tonight, the Devils had defensive breakdowns that led to odd-man rushes. “The game today was going to require extreme focus, commitment, discipline, structure, all those kinds of things coming off a road trip,” said Keefe. “We just didn’t have it, and all the things that were setting the foundation for us to win on the road, they just weren’t there today … can’t outscore your problems.”
Cody Glass Injured in Second Period
Later in the second period, Cody Glass took a slapshot to the leg and immediately keeled over in pain. After limping to the bench and hanging around in the tunnel area for a good while, he headed all the way down and did not return.
After the game, Keefe said, “Obviously, unable to finish the game … he’ll have to get further tests to know exactly what’s going on.”
Cody Glass down the #NJDevils tunnel in a ton of pain after blocking a shot pic.twitter.com/2zqSK3bApn
— Daniel Amoia (@daniel_amoia) January 28, 2026
Losing Glass for any extended time would be a huge blow for the Devils, as he’d been arguably their hottest player over the last couple weeks.
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 27-24-2 — will look to bounce back as they remain home to face the Nashville Predators on Thursday night (7:00 PM EST).
