Game Preview #82: New Jersey Devils @ Boston Bruins

The Matchup The New Jersey Devils (42-36-3) @ Boston Bruins (44-27-10)

The Time: 7:00pm

**The Broadcast:**MSG, Devils Radio Network

Last Devils Game

On Sunday, the Devils played their final home game of the season. It took overtime, but New Jersey won one last time in their Jersey jerseys over the Ottawa Senators by a 4-3 final score. Nico Hischier scored the game-winner in overtime to send the fans home happy.

Last Bruins Game

Boston was also in action on Sunday, taking down the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in Ohio. Sean Kuraly led the way with three points for the Bruins.

Last Devils-Bruins Game

It happened on March 16, and it was a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory at The Rock. With overtime winding down, Paul Cotter got sprung on a breakaway, and with seconds to go before a potential shootout, he went to his deep bag of tricks and potted the winner.

End Of The Road

Tonight is the final time we will see the New Jersey Devils play hockey until next autumn. It’s infuriating, confusing, depressing, and demoralizing. This team should have been so much more, but instead they’ll be hitting the golf course early for the second time in three years.

New Jersey has failed to qualify for the postseason in back-to-back years since the 2009-10 season, which is insane. I checked, and believe it or not, that is the longest active streak in the league. Yes, even the Buffalo Sabres – who just broke their own long playoff drought – did it more recently, though just barely in 2010-11. Yes, even the Utah Mammoth/Arizona Coyotes, and no I don’t care that the league tries to tell us that those are two separate franchises. Yes, even the Ottawa Senators, who were the biggest joke of the NHL for many years in recent times. Heck, the Senators have just qualified for their second straight postseason this year. Just think about that for a second: The team that has probably been the biggest soap opera in the NHL over the last 10 or so years (aside from maybe Vancouver or Buffalo), just made it to the dance in consecutive seasons, a feat New Jersey has not accomplished since the very beginning of the last decade.

Despite the talent on the roster, the Devils just cannot get out of their own way since the soaring heights of 2022-23. As a result, their season comes to a close tonight in Boston. There will be plenty of changes to this organization over the offseason, including (at the bare minimum) a new general manager. We’ll have a long, long offseason to discuss New Jersey’s future from all different angles. But for now, we mourn the end of a deeply disappointing season.

Is There Anything To Watch For Tonight?

Despite the crushing disappointment, there are a few interesting things to keep an eye out for in my opinion:

• Nico Hischier is two faceoff wins away from 1,000 faceoff wins for the season. It would be the first time in his career that he has reached that milestone. He enters tonight with a FOW% just north of 55%, which is a terrific mark. Hischier continues to be the quiet engine of this team, doing all the little things right.
• Jack Hughes comes into this game with 77 points, meaning there’s an outside shot he gets to 80 to end his season.
• On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jonas Siegenthaler has played every game so far this season (which is encouraging to see given his trouble staying healthy in recent years), and has yet to score a goal. Can he really play all 82 games and not find the back of the net a single time? I’m making a bold prediction right here, right now that Siegenthaler scores his first goal in the final game of the season.
• Lenni Hameenaho and Brian Halonen got sent down to AHL Utica because they’re still chasing a postseason berth, so we won’t be seeing them tonight. Look out for some veterans reentering the lineup, which isn’t particularly interesting admittedly, but I did want to note that Hameenaho’s rookie season has come to an end.
• Fresh off his NHL debut, Topias Vilen will once again get the call tonight. It was a promising debut in limited ice time on Sunday, and while there’s not many conclusions we can draw from two games to end a lost season, it’s still good to see a prospect get some NHL ice time.
• Finally, in perhaps the most darkly hilarious twist of this miserable season, if the Devils win tonight, they will finish with 43 wins…one more than last year’s team which qualified for the postseason. A stronger Eastern Conference and a ridiculous lack of loser points makes that possible. What a league.

Misery Loves Company

At the very least, the Devils aren’t alone in their misery, as the other two tri-state area teams failed to make it to the postseason as well. If you think that’s rare, you’d be correct:

Gotta take the small victories where you can, I guess.

Next Time Out

September. And keep in mind, the NHL is going to an 84-game season next year. We can only hope the 2026-27 season isn’t as disappointing as this one, otherwise we’ll have to suffer through two more games of misery than we had to suffer through this season.

Many Thanks

This is my third season writing for All About The Jersey. Despite this season being a massive disappointment, I continue to marvel at how lucky I am to have the privilege of writing about my favorite hockey team on a blog of this quality. It’s a humbling experience, one I try not to take for granted for even one day. Thank you for all the support, thank you for all the constructive criticism, and thank you for helping to make this, in my humble opinion, the best hockey blog on the internet. I’m not looking forward to a playoff-free spring, but I am looking forward to continuing to share this space with all of you. Here’s to brighter days for the New Jersey Devils ahead.

See you next year.