The Devils beat St. Louis 5-4 in overtime on Thursday, two nights after beating Edmonton 4-3 in a shootout. Connor Hellebuyck started both, and he has won all four of his starts since New Jersey acquired him from Winnipeg on Oct. 23. The Devils are 11-5-0, second in the Metropolitan behind Carolina.
In mid-October we wrote that New Jersey had hockey's best chances and kept chasing games. The Devils were 3-3 then. They are 8-2 since. The chances stayed, and the results caught up with them, as we expected they would. What we did not see coming was where the remaining weakness would sit: in the crease, and above all on the penalty kill.
How good are the Devils at five-on-five?
The best in the league, along with Carolina. Before Thursday, New Jersey had 59 per cent of the five-on-five expected goals and allowed 1.93 expected goals per 60 minutes, the fewest of any team. It creates 2.79, seventh. Most nights the Devils control the game.
Jack Hughes has eight goals and 19 points, and the Devils have 65 per cent of the expected goals with him on the ice. His line with Jesper Bratt and Arseny Gritsyuk is at 69 per cent over 120 minutes and has outscored opponents 9-3. Nico Hischier centres a second line at 60 per cent, and the top pair of Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce is at 59 per cent and 14-6 in goals over 240 minutes.
| New Jersey, five-on-five, 2026-27 | Minutes | Expected goals share | Goals for-against |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bratt, J. Hughes, Gritsyuk | 120 | 69% | 9-3 |
| Evangelista, Hischier, Meier | 123 | 60% | 5-3 |
| L. Hughes and Pesce | 240 | 59% | 14-6 |
| Siegenthaler and Hamilton | 215 | 61% | 9-9 |
One caution. Gritsyuk has eight goals on chances worth 3.9, and that rate will come down.
So where did the losses come from?
The goaltending. Before Hellebuyck arrived, Jake Allen and Nico Daws, who went to Winnipeg in the trade, started every game. Allen has an .886 save percentage and is 4.4 goals below expected, 53rd of the 61 goaltenders with at least four games. Daws was at .872 and 2.3 below expected. As a team, New Jersey's goaltending is 6.4 goals below expected.
It shows most clearly on the penalty kill. The Devils allow chances at the 11th-lowest rate in the league when shorthanded, which is fine. Their goaltenders have stopped 75.0 per cent of shots on the kill, 31st. New Jersey has allowed 11 power-play goals, and its penalty kill succeeds 67.6 per cent of the time, 29th.
Has Hellebuyck fixed it?
Not yet, though the record is perfect. He has stopped 82 of 92 shots in four starts, an .891 save percentage, after a long standoff in Winnipeg kept him off the ice for months. At five-on-five he has been better, at .939 in his first three games. Hellebuyck finished last season 5.5 goals above expected in 57 games for Winnipeg. If he returns to anything like that level, the one weak part of this team becomes a strength.
The case for patience, stated fairly
The case for caution is that the Devils have needed overtime in each of their last two games and are 4-0 in games decided after regulation, which flatters the record a little. Gritsyuk's finishing will cool, the power play is converting 19.1 per cent, 21st, and an .891 save percentage from Hellebuyck is not what New Jersey traded for.
The other side is that the five-on-five numbers are the most reliable thing in hockey this early, and New Jersey's are the best in the league. The goaltending was the weak part, and the Devils went and got a goaltender who was a Vezina winner. A team built this way only needs its goaltender to be about average, and New Jersey's have been well below that.
Our view is that the Devils are a real contender in the East, and that Hellebuyck should take the large majority of starts, especially against teams with good power plays.
What to watch
New Jersey plays the Islanders on Saturday and Toronto on Sunday, then goes to Winnipeg on Tuesday for Hellebuyck's first game back there. Watch the penalty-kill save percentage over those three games. Every Devils number is on the team stats page, and the Metropolitan race is on the standings.
Correction, November 6, 2026: An earlier version of this article said New Jersey beat Edmonton in overtime on Tuesday. The win came in a shootout. It also gave Connor Hellebuyck 81 saves on 91 shots in four starts. He has 82 saves on 92 shots.