On Monday, Jan. 12, the NHL welcomed the Hughes’ Bowl at the Grand Casino Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Devils snapped their four-game losing streak, winning 5-2 against the Wild.
In December, the Minnesota Wild acquired defenseman Quinn Hughes in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. Devils star center Jack Hughes and defensive brother Luke Hughes faced Quinn in the Monday night matchup. This friendly matchup brought out the fans’ eagerness as the Hughes Bowl has been on hold since December with Quinn’s trade and Jack out with a non-hockey-related injury. All three brothers were able to successfully play in the so-called Hughes Bowl.
Devils’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom was in net Monday evening, while Jesper Wallstedt played for the Wild.
Devils’ Captain Nico Hischier, right winger Dawson Mercer, and defenseman Dougie Hamilton all had themselves a two-point evening, pushing the Devils to an advantage and winning the game.
Hischier – two assists
Mercer – one goal, one assist
Hamilton – two assists
The Devils’ have struggled with some insufferable losses over the last few games. The win over the Wild was highly needed to secure the Devils’ confidence, find out what went wrong recently, and push them back into the winning column in order to get back to being a playoff contending team.
The first period was a decent start for the Devils, as they have not been the team to score first and defend properly early on in their last few games. However, at 10:07 on the clock, Mercer took a snap shot on the Wild’s net and score the first goal of the evening—putting the Devils’ up 1-0 giving the team their first lead since their 4-1 win over Utah on Jan. 3. Hirschier earned the assist on Mercer’s 12th goal of the season.
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Heading into the second period, the Devils were steady with their defensive and offensive plays, showing strong chemistry which has been lacking from the team. On Sunday, the Devils’ welcomed back defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic. The return of Kovacevic, it helped New Jersey find their defensive footing again. During the period, the Wild were able to tie the game up. Ryan Hartman tied the game at one, with a little over seven minutes remaining. However, with eight seconds remaining in the second, Ondrej Palat gave the Devils’ a 2-1 lead. Hischier and Jonas Siegenthaler assisted; contributing the Hischiers two-point evening.
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The third and final period of the evening commenced with the Devils leading by one, and a whole lot of playing time remaining. Over seven minutes in, the Devils picked up another goal. Forward Jesper Bratt gave the Devils a 3-1 advantage, ultimately shaping the trajectory of the game. Bratt’s goal was assisted by both Hamilton and Jack Hughes.
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Shortly after Bratt’s first goal of the evening, he scored again to earn back-to-back goals against the Wild, and increasing the Devil’s advantage to 4-1. Hamilton earned his second assist of the night on the goal, following into his two-point evening and defenseman Brendon Dillon picked up the second assist.
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Ondrej Palat struck again, securing a goal against Minnesota and increasing New Jersey’s lead to 5-1. Palat’s second goal of the evening and third of the season was assisted by Mercer. Mercer has now earned 100 NHL career assists.
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However, Minnesota was not done yet. With only a few seconds remaining on a power play, Marcus Foligno scored and set the final 5-2 score and giving the Devils the win in the Hughes Bowl.
The New Jersey Devils will return home to face off the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 14 at 7:00 p.m.
