3 Takeaways from Devils’ Guty 3-2 Shootout Win at Washington – Hockey Writers – New Jersey Demons

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3 Takeaways from Devils’ Guty 3-2 Shootout Win at Washington – Hockey Writers – New Jersey Demons

Injuries – The new Demons are gone heading to DC on Saturday night to face the headlines in Washington. Thanks to the Simon Nemec Shootout Winner, they put the caps 3-2 to get the second straight win to start the road trip.

Related: The Demons survived a 3-2 shootout comeback attempt

Finding Ways to Win

Since 2022-23, the Demons have played 44 games without Jack Hughes. Of those, they went 18-23-2, which is obviously not good. If they want to overcome the absence of their star player (and other absences), they will need to turn in consistent efforts in 60 minutes.

But something has set this team apart from past squads of demons: even if they don’t fully turn 60, there are – it’s broken finding ways to win. With eight key players out, they were trailing 15-24 by Washington but held down the fort enough to get them into overtime.

New Jersey Devils Right Wing Arsenyy Gritsyuk celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Washington Capitals (Geoff Burke-Email

From there, they played more responsible overtime — something of an improvement from last season when head coach Sheldon Keefes said they sometimes played too dangerously in the extra session. While they didn’t get Twine there despite making the cap 7-2, they managed to take home the second point in the shootout.

It’s really amazing that with all these injuries, the Demons are now 13-4-1 – first in the Metro and second in the league.

“I don’t think it’s a statement game … We’ve been making statements all year,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said on the MSG Broadcast.

3 Defensensen continues to rise with injuries

After the exciting hat-trick in Chicago, the narrative surrounding Nemec was simply: How can you get out of the world when the team is completely healthy!?

While the demons shouldn’t be facing this (good) problem anytime soon, Nemec stepped up again as he was summoned when he was shot and brought to sign the victory.

Simon Nemec is back in the back win game for the demons 🤯🚨 pic.twitter.com/yxmvxnkffoh

– B/R open ice (@br_openice) November 16, 2025

While Nemec was certainly instrumental in the team’s ability to overcome injuries, he wasn’t the only one. Tonight, against a very good CAPS team, the pairing of Dennis Cholowski and Colton White was strong.

The duo excelled at keeping the ‘opportunities’ out and made life a lot easier for Jake Allen. According to MonePuck, in 10: 43 of the time of the Ice together, they allowed the expected goals by 0.36 and the most important: zero goals against.

“You don’t stand a chance if you can’t find it [good] Minutes from guys like that,” Keefe said.

Luke Hughes is worried about himself

With Nemec’s recent renewal, Luke Hughes was relegated to the second abomination section. While other players would allow themselves to mentally pull out of the game, Luke did the opposite.

Late for the first time, he scored his first goal of the season after going to the blue line and ripping the roll. He was perfect for that spot tonight, leading the Demons in shot attempts and fourth in scoring chances created (first among Defensensen).

Despite the hiccup that led to a unique goal in Chicago, he is very safe at best, encouraging Keefe to give him a time of 18:25 which is stronger than any other time of the demons (Jonas Siegenthaler, 16:30).

There is no denying that Hughes has the ability to be one of the best safeties in the league. If this goal opens the floodgates, it’s a very good time for it to be.