On Friday evening, the New Jersey Devils continued their road trip against the Vancouver Canucks. Despite nearly choking away a 3-0 lead, they hung on to win 5-4 — their fifth victory in the last six contests. They’re now a perfect 3-0-0 on the trip.
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“Fourth” Line Absolutely Cooking
In Lenni Hameenaho’s first two NHL games, he didn’t look out of place whatsoever, as the Devils held a 13-1 scoring chance advantage with him on the ice. Surely, he had to come back down to Earth…right!?
Well, just a minute and 41 seconds in, Hameenaho crashed the net and banged in a rebound for his first NHL goal. He was subsequently mobbed by his linemates Cody Glass and Arseny Gritsyuk.
FIRST NHL GOAL ALERT! 🚨
Lenni Hameenaho is on the scoresheet for the @NJDevils! pic.twitter.com/2ugaN7NVDL
— NHL (@NHL) January 24, 2026
That was far from all: that line connected again as Hameenaho assisted a Glass goal. Glass scored once more later — his third point of the night — with his linemates having already changed. He now has six goals in his last seven games and is on an 82-game pace of ~27 goals. What a revelation he’s been.
As for the whole line, in their three games together, they boast a 19-9 shots advantage, 15-5 scoring chance advantage, and are outscoring the opposition 3-0. Glass has also won ~54% of their face-offs. (via Natural Stat Trick)
With how poor the Devils’ fourth line had been prior, it’s not a stretch to say this unit has done more in three games than any previous ones did all season. In fact, Hameenaho now needs just two points to tie Luke Glendening‘s total from 48 games (4). Talk about a breath of fresh air for the offense.
Power Play Comes Through
Since the culmination of the October eight-game win streak, the Devils’ power play had been converting at a 17.5% clip — 23rd in the NHL. To make matters worse, it wasn’t for a lack of process; their power play has generated 10.02 expected goals per 60 (xGF/60) this season — 6th in the NHL. They just haven’t been able to finish.
Tonight, both Nico Hischier and Connor Brown found twine on the man advantage as they went 2-for-3. They did, however, give up a shorthanded goal.
Regardless, the 2-for-3 night is certainly a showing they can build on. Last season, the Devils’ poor even strength goal production got consistently bailed out by a power play that was near the best in the league, helping them squeak into the playoffs.
This season, that hasn’t been the case, which is a big part of why they’re on the outside looking in. But it’s not too late to flip the narrative…
They Don’t Ask How…
With tonight’s victory, the Devils sit just three points behind the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division. However, what (at one point) seemed to be a stress-free win turned into anything but.
The Devils got out to a 3-0 lead but then started to crumble. After the Canucks made it 3-2, the Devils answered back but the Canucks wouldn’t go away, making it 4-3. Glass’ insurance goal — his team’s fifth — should have sealed the deal, but the Devils put on a disastrous showing in a 6-on-5 scenario, failing to convert on a few empty nets.
Then Brock Boeser scored with 1:12 to go, making it 5-4. Thankfully, the Devils were able to hang on but their fans who stayed up late might wake up with a few more grey hairs.
Can never make it easy can ya
— anne (@njdevilsfan1313) January 24, 2026
Once again, Jacob Markstrom struggled, stopping just 21 of 25 (.840%). Per Moneypuck, here were the odds of each of the four against becoming a goal: 23%, 13%, 43% and 35%. While the first, third and fourth were all considered high danger chances, it would have been way less stressful if he came up with a big save on one or two of those four.
Nonetheless, the Devils continue to roll. The two points are all that matter at this point.
Moving Forward
Now 27-22-2, the Devils will look to make it six wins in seven games as they face the Seattle Kraken on Sunday (3:00 PM EST).
