The New Jersey Devils opened the 2022-2023 season on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, falling to the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. The Devils are one of the younger teams in the NHL, with some veterans on their side. New Jersey had a productive off-season, acquiring 2x Stanley Cup Champion LW Ondrej Palat during his free agency from the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Devils also acquired LW Erik Haula from Boston and Goalie Vitek Vanecek from the Capitals.

FIERY FIRST

Saturday Night the Prudential Center was packed, as the Devils 2022 home opener commenced. They hosted the Detroit Red Wings. This was the second game of the season for the Red Wings, who previously played the Canadians and won 3-0 and went into Saturday’s match 1-0. Detroit’s Dylan Larkin is looking to tack on another great season after leading the team in the points (69) and goals (31) categories. For New Jersey, this seems to be a breakup year for the young 21-year-old Jack Hughes. Captain Nico Hischier announced that he would be in the lineup after recovering from an injury. Right off the bat, the Devils were hot, 4:4 off the 1st period defensemen Dougie Hamilton rode the blue line and shot a wrister that got behind Husso, putting the Devils up on the board 1-0. The goal was assisted by Jesper Bratt, and for the second year in a row, Hamilton scored on opening night for the Devils. The Devils Power Play Kill unit followed through that period, stopping DET on both counts, forcing them to go 0/2. The second time around they did not allow the Red Wings to get a shot or goal.

SLOPPY SECOND

As the second period got underway, the Red Wings caused some trouble for the Devils. Detroit started the attack on the offensive front, tying the game with a wrister from Ben Chiarot, scoring his first goal of the season. A few minutes later in the period, at the 15:26 mark, Jakub Vrana scored, rushing from the left side to put the Red Wings up 2-1. The Devils responded right after the faceoff, with Miles Wood putting one behind the net to tie the game 2-2. This was Miles Wood’s first goal of the season, assisted by Fabian Zetterlund at the 15:16 mark. Later in the game, the Devils went on the Power Play for the first time that night with nothing going their way. They went on the Power Play again with the four-on-three-man advantage after a DET hooking call at the 12:03 mark. The Devils finished the second period sloppy, allowing four unanswered goals and ugly time in the penalty box. Detroit had only 12 shots on goal this period but found the net four times. In the last two minutes, Detroit’s Moritz Seider and Dylan Larken both hit the back of the net, putting the Red Wings up 4-2. The Devil’s inability to stay out of the box during this period did not help. A lot of sloppy plays and giveaways, disadvantageous strength, and last-minute poor play put the Devils down by two.

TIRING THIRD

In the third period, with only two minutes flying by, Tatar headed to the box for the second time in the game for two minutes. This put the Red Wings on the Power Play for the fourth time. With 6:49 off the 3rd period, both Mercer of the Devils and Sundqvist headed to the box for roughing, creating a four-on-four even strength. Detroit scored again with Dominik Kubalik scoring his first goal of the season, making it 5-2 Red Wings. Fans at the Rock were not pleased, and boos began to rain down. Devils young star Jack Hughes rounded up only seven shots on goal on 21:34 total ice time in the game. It was a rocky opening night for the Devils, dropping consecutive losses to start off the 2022-2023 campaign and allowing five goals in back-to-back contests. The last time the Devils dropped consecutive games in regulation to begin a season was October 9th and 10th of 2015 after suffering a 3-1 loss to Winnipeg and a 5-3 defeat to Washington. The Devils are now 23-12-13 all-time for home openers. They outshot Detroit 39-21, won 55% of the face-offs, and were 4/4 on the penalty kill, yet still fell to the Red Wings 5-2. The Devils’ next game will be at home at 7 pm ET as they host Trevor Zegras and the Anaheim Ducks.