While the New Jersey Devils‘ playoff hopes were incredibly slim, they still had a lot to play for against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night at Prudential Center. On top of their general manager being fired ~24 hours earlier, the game held a ~34% swing in the Flyers’ playoff chances, which should have been plenty motivation on its own.
But the Devils couldn’t play spoiler, instead falling 5-1 and officially ending their minuscule playoff hopes.
Related: Devils’ Stars & Coach React to Tom Fitzgerald’s Departure
Markstrom Struggles, But No Help From Defense
To say Jacob Markstrom struggled tonight is an understatement. He stopped just 11 of 15 (.733%) — minus-3.46 goals saved above expected, per Moneypuck.
TYSON FOERSTER IS SO BACK 🔥
He gets two quick goals to extend the @NHLFlyers lead!
📺: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/m0LyTCHYnH pic.twitter.com/8EmWZhrHwG
— NHL (@NHL) April 8, 2026
With that being said, the defense did him minimal favors. Head coach Sheldon Keefe has been adamant all season that the team needs to improve defensively to get to where they need to go, and they certainly have not made enough progress.
While sometimes a team needs their netminder to bail the defense out, they were playing with fire early on as multiple mishandlings of the puck and ill-advised pinches led to odd-man rushes the other way. With a team as skilled as the Flyers, that will usually come back to bite you.
“We gifted them essentially two goals to start the game,” said Keefe postgame. “Since the Olympic break [the Flyers] were the best defensive team in the NHL, so you spot them the lead, it’s gonna be tough.”
In nearly every defensive category, the Devils are middle-of-the-pack, sitting somewhere around 16th. It’s not horrible, but certainly not good enough. After this long, it seems clear that meaningful improvement will only happen by way of external acquisitions (though the absence of Brett Pesce does hurt a lot).
Rare Point-less Night from Jack Hughes
Coming into the night, Jack Hughes‘ 34 points since Feb. 28 led the entire NHL, despite playing as many as three fewer games than other NHL players during that span. But alas, he is human and failed to register a point tonight.
With how raging hot he was, it was almost bound to happen at some point; he had nine points in the previous three games.
It wasn’t for a lack of dominance. He had a team-leading six scoring chances (via Natural Stat Trick), but nights like this happen. It does, however, go to highlight how integral Jack has been to the team’s recent offensive surge and their big-picture goals. The Devils are 25-13-1 (.654%) when he records at least a point this season; 15-22-2 (.410%) when he is absent or fails to record a point.
Devils Eliminated from Playoff Contention
With the Devils’ loss tonight, plus the Ottawa Senators earning two points against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Devils are officially eliminated from playoff contention.
In late October, the Devils had a 96% chance to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. “It’s embarrassing. I don’t like it,” said Keefe. “I’ve coached for 20 years and this is the first time I won’t be participating in the playoffs at any level (…) The overall results of not participating in the playoffs is going to sting for a long time.”
While this news would be disappointing for any player on its own, it only makes it worse that it comes on a day like today where emotions were running high after Tom Fitzgerald’s departure:
“It’s incredibly disappointing, you know, not just about the night but how the season’s gone,” said forward Connor Brown. “Fitzy’s a guy that means a lot to a lot of us in this room, and he’s a guy that cares a lot about his players [and] his staff. It’s not easy when the President is let go; he’s cultivated a really good caring family environment in here.”
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 40-35-3 — will return home to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7:00 PM EDT).
