Luke Hughes Scores Twice In New Jersey Devils’ Huge 7-1 Win Over New York Rangers

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NEWARK, NJ - OCTOBER 15: Luke Hughes #43 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his goal during the second period of the game against the New York Rangers on October 15, 2026 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images

Boy did the New Jersey Devils need this.

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It’s not like the season has been a Philadelphia Flyers level catastrophe thus far, as a 3-3-0 record is perfectly adequate six games into the campaign. But the Devils were only beating the bad teams, losing to the good teams, and getting absolutely thrashed by percentages; shooting and save, to be exact. This ineptitude with goaltending and finishing has been by far the biggest reason for New Jersey’s malaise to start 2026-27. But tonight, regression to the mean hit them hard, as New Jersey romped to a 7-1 victory over the New York Rangers at The Rock.

You wouldn’t believe it by the final score and the advanced numbers, but the Devils were very slow out of the gate tonight. They didn’t register a shot on goal until about halfway through the first period when Jack Hughes fired a rush chance at Dylan Garand. In fact they only posted six total shots on net in the opening frame.

But the last of those shots changed everything. It was a relatively low-event first period overall, but the Rangers largely controlled play over the opening 20 minutes (aside from a particular two-minute stretch that we’ll get to a little later on). One of the overriding storylines for the Devils so far has been their inability to turn their sparkling advanced metrics into actual goals and wins. But through about 19:30 tonight, they didn’t even have a good process to console themselves with. And that’s when Garand whipped a pass behind his own net to J.T. Miller, who flubbed a centering pass and sent it right to Evan Rodrigues all alone in the slot. Rodrigues made it count, beating Garand to give the Devils a very surprising 1-0 lead.

And from there, it was all New Jersey. Luke Hughes scored 18 seconds into the middle period to double the Devils’ lead. Nico Hischier followed quickly behind, jamming home a loose puck off a Timo Meier shot. Arseny Gritsyuk banged home a long rebound off a Jack Hughes shot to make it 4-0, which ended Garand’s night. But while the Rangers changed goalies, they couldn’t change their fate. After play settled down a little, Luke Hughes scored again on one of the prettiest individual efforts I’ve seen in a while:

It was his second goal of the night, giving Hughes the first multi-goal game of his career.

Stefan Noesen added his first goal of the season in the third period, and after the Rangers scored a late power play goal to cut the deficit to 6-1, Cody Glass notched his own first of the season while shorthanded.

And by the time the final horn sounded, the Devils put up seven goals and coasted to a win.

Tonight was a night where the Devils got all the breaks. Don’t get me wrong, they were the superior team through the final 40:30 of game time, but I think we can also admit that everything went New Jersey’s way this evening. Rodrigues’ goal was a gift from the gods, and Luke Hughes’ first goal happened thanks to a fortuitous deflection off of Adam Fox’s skate. And before, in between, and after those two goals, everything else went New Jersey’s way tonight as well. With how much has gone against them this season, the Devils were due for a little regression. They got it tonight, although perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they earned it tonight. They worked hard and they worked smart and they played a great team game, and all that effort helped generate a ton of good luck. They almost certainly won’t be as lucky next game, but this is what is possible when the Devils control play and put up a good process.

It’s not like all the problems that have been hounding this team have been fixed thanks to tonight’s blowout. New Jersey is still only 4-3-0, with a lot of season in front of them and a lot of work to do. But with 12 goals in their last two games, things are finally starting to turn around when it comes to the Devils’ biggest problem over the past few years: finishing. It’s only two games, but it’s been a wonderful palate cleanser of a two-game stretch.

Now the Devils have to keep the good times rolling.

The Game Stats:The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats

The Game Highlights:Courtesy of NHL.com

Daws Bounces Back

Nico Daws got the start tonight, and he rewarded his team with his first strong game of the season. According to Natural Stat Trick, Daws saved 1.03 Goals Above Expected this evening. He wasn’t tested all that often, but whenever he was, he answered the call. It’s only one game and he has some more work to do to gain anyone’s trust, but tonight’s game is definitely something to build off of for Daws.

The Power Play Is Officially A Huge Problem

And now it’s time to talk about that particular two-minute stretch in the first period I mentioned earlier. As mentioned, the Rangers controlled play for most of the opening frame. But at 11:58 of the period, something very rare happened: the officials called two different penalties on the same play, nabbing Noah Laba for slashing and Marcus Pettersson for holding. This meant that New Jersey would have a full two-minute, 5-on-3 power play.

And not only did they fail to score in those two minutes, they didn’t even register a shot on goal.

After that pathetic excuse for a power play, if you told me that New Jersey would go on to win 7-1, I would have laughed you out of the room. Especially so considering that Jonas Siegenthaler took a boneheaded tripping penalty shortly after the Devils’ failed two-man advantage. The power play was just the Hughes brothers and Jesper Bratt playing catch along the perimeter. Jack took a few shot attempts, but they were mostly from outside the home plate area and they didn’t reach the net. There was nothing threatening on that power play, which is unacceptable.

The second power play unit looked much better this evening. The passing was crisp and decisive, and they actually generated some quality shots on target. They didn’t score, but I did not hate their process. I know it’s still very early on, but I would seriously consider some changes to the units. To be fair, Luke Evangelista missed his second consecutive game with an illness, so his absence hurt the power play tonight. But then again it’s not like the Devils’ PP was firing on all cylinders with Evangelista either.

Aside from the embarrassing 5-on-3, the Devils went 0/4 in total on the power play tonight. Thankfully their struggles did not hurt them, but if they don’t get this figured out soon, there will be many games down the road that are lost as a direct result of their power play struggles.

1-0 Them? Not Tonight

Thanks to that early Christmas gift from J.T. Miller, the Devils were able to score first for the second game in a row. Both times, it has been Evan Rodrigues breaking the ice. New Jersey is still deep in the hole, allowing the first goal in five games this season. But the last two contests have been a step in the right direction.

What’s funny is that both Rodrigues goals came in very different game states. His opening marker against Detroit came during a first period that was largely dominated by New Jersey, whereas his goal this evening came against the run of play. New York had just pinned the Devils in their own zone and created a few looks at the net at the other end of the ice. But New Jersey got a clear and pressured Garand into sending it to Miller, who made a huge blunder that Rodrigues capitalized on. Sometimes a little puck luck can go a long way.

They still have work to do in this regard, but for now, the tide is turning.

Metropolitan Division Victories Are Sweet

I’ve cited this stat a million times, and now it’ll be a million-and-one. The Devils went 7-17-2 against the Metropolitan Division last season. It was a monstrous reason as to why they failed to qualify for the playoffs. If they wish to return, they need to be much, much better against divisional foes in 2026-27.

That quest started off on an okay note on opening night, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime. But even this was a disappointment, as the Devils dominated that game from the word “go”, and yet they still allowed the Flyers to scoop up a loser point. Chris mentioned in the preview for this game that if the Devils want any chance at success this season, they need to start racking up not just wins, but regulation wins.

With tonight’s romp, the Devils are now 2-1-0 against the Metro this season. That .667 points percentage is great, but thanks to the Flyers’ loser point, New Jersey’s opponents are currently at a .500 points percentage themselves. Advantage New Jersey for now, but they need to keep this up and keep winning in regulation. Four-point swings add up quickly.

Hischier Alone In Third

Congratulations to the captain, who took sole possession of third place on the Devils’ all-time goals list this evening. His tally in the second period was the 203rd of his career, breaking a three-way tie with Bobby Holik and Travis Zajac.

Next up for Hischier are the franchise’s two forward big guns: John MacLean and Patrik Elias. Hischier has a ways to go to catch either of them, with MacLean in second with 347 goals, and Elias at the mountaintop with 408, almost exactly double Hischier’s current total.

Another Milestone

Congrats are also in order to head coach Sheldon Keefe, as he notched his 300th career win this evening:

Let’s hope he’s got many more where those came from.

Fun With Stats

Here’s a neat one:

It doesn’t mean much, aside from the fact that closing and opening periods strong are great things. But I found this amusing.

It’s Not Just The Two Goals, Folks

One last note on Luke Hughes before we wrap up. Beyond just the two goals he scored, he once again controlled play exceptionally. Per Natural Stat Trick, Hughes played 18:06 at 5-on-5 tonight. In those minutes, the Devils out-attempted the Rangers 26-9, outshot them 9-2, won the Scoring Chances battle 9-5, won the Expected Goals battle to the tune of a 61.06% mark, and most importantly, the Devils outscored the Rangers 3-0 with Hughes on the ice this evening.

According to Hockey Stat Cards, Hughes posted a stellar Game Score of 3.09, the fourth-best mark on the team tonight.

It is of course still early, but we may finally be seeing that Luke Hughes breakout that we’ve all dreamed about. He’s tilting the ice, he’s scoring goals, and he just looks like a difference-maker out there. We can only hope he keeps growing before our eyes.

Next Time Out

The Devils are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel down to Washington to battle the Capitals. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:00pm.

Your Take

How much fun did you have tonight? Who impressed you the most? How encouraged were you by Daws’ game? What do you expect next time out against Washington? As always, thanks for reading!

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