The New Jersey Devils faced the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. In a chaotic match, they suffered their second consecutive home regulation loss after having previously avoided that fate all season. They fell 5-3.
Related: Monahan Scores Twice as Blue Jackets Defeat Devils 5-3
Brenden Dillon’s Milestone Night Turns into Drama
Tonight wasn’t just any ordinary game: fan-favorite Brenden Dillon played his 1,000th game. All Devils players took the ice for warmups in “DILLON #5” jerseys. The sleeves said “1K”.
Unfortunately, his big night was cut short: just a minute into the second frame, Dillon went down while fighting Dmitri Voronkov. It looked ugly; he needed help to get off the ice.
Brenden Dillon in his 1,000th career game had to leave the game after pic.twitter.com/5FP4UI3M0V
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 2, 2025
“There’s no more honorable player in this league than Brenden Dillon,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “He would never do something like that to a player. I don’t like it. I don’t think Dilly knows he’s in a fight. He’s tackled from behind, and before he knows it, his helmet’s off, his jersey’s over his head and you saw what happened from there.”
Afterwards, chaos broke out as the Devils defended their veteran on his milestone night. A total of 64 penalty minutes (PIMs) were recorded in the period — 36 for the Devils, 28 for the Blue Jackets.
Many fans compared the drama to a feisty contest in January of 2024, when the Chicago Blackhawks and Devils went at it after a Brendan Smith hit on Connor Bedard. That entire game had 64 PIMs…the total from this one period alone.
Almost miraculously, Dillon returned late in the period and finished it out. But he never re-emerged for the third period.
Thankfully, Keefe said it was just precautionary. There doesn’t appear to be much concern.
Uncommon Rule Hurts Devils
Amidst that chaos was a Jonas Siegenthaler fight against Adam Fantilli. While they both received five minutes for fighting, Siegenthaler was given an additional ten minutes plus a game misconduct — a big blow to the Devils’ defense. There was some initial confusion but here’s the reason he was tossed:
Rule 46.13: A player who engages in a fight and whose jersey is not properly “tied-down” (jersey properly fastened to pants), and who loses his jersey (completely off his torso) in that altercation, shall receive a
game misconduct penalty.
After video review, it is clear that Siegenthaler was in violation of the rule. As a result, they had to play most of the second period — and all of the third — down four defensemen. That clearly hurt them.
More madness in Jersey: #NJDevils Jonas Siegenthaler gets ejected for not having his fight strap done after fighting Fantilli. Monahan got 2 for a high stick, Brown 2 for roughing and cross checking. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/W1XgDO9CWU
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) December 2, 2025
With that being said, though, if there was an instigator penalty given to Fantilli, Siegenthaler would not have been ejected. Following the game, Keefe said, “Siegenthaler received seven punches before he removed his gloves. So for me, there should be an extra penalty there.”
Jake Allen Struggles
Jake Allen’s numbers show he’s clearly been the Devils’ best netminder this season. However, tonight was a very rough showing for him. He stopped just 19 of 24 (.792%) — minus-3.08 goals saved above expected, per Moneypuck.
The heartbreaking blow for the Devils came in the third when Allen mishandled the puck, which squirted out to former Devil Miles Wood, who buried it.
After starting the season with five straight wins, he’s now lost five of his last eight. In a weird way, it’s a silver lining for the Devils in the sense that — minus Allen — they played better as a team than the score indicated. They certainly deserved to win.
A big point of emphasis has been to cut down on high danger chances against, which they did tonight despite being shorthanded. The defense was responsible for just five high danger chances. Over their previous eight, they averaged 10.13 high danger chances against. That’s great improvement.
Overall, the Devils generated 4.18 expected goals to the Blue Jackets’ 1.92.
Moving Forward
The Devils — now 16-9-1 — will return to action on Wednesday night as they remain home to face the Dallas Stars (7:00 PM EST).
