Today is October 1st and New Jersey Devils hockey is finally back.
Sure, the NHL season may have started in September this year with the addition of two regular season games per team, but that games that matter to The People Who Matter begin in mere hours. For the Devils, the campaign begins with a match against a divisional foe, the Philadelphia Flyers. Tonight, however, is not the Flyers first game of this current season. They were one of the teams to start their 2026-27 in September, and what a start it was!
Philadelphia was shut out 7-0 by their state rival the Pittsburgh Penguins.
At home.
With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin contributing a combined two points.
Needless to say, the Flyers are likely to be mad after being on the losing end of a result that looks more like a low scoring football game than a hockey game. On the other side of that though is they come in to the Prudential Center tonight on the tail end of a back to back. There’s likely to be some tired legs. There’s likely to be some overthinking. Losing your first game of the season by seven goals while also not finding a way to get one past *checks notes* Arturs Silovs could lead to the Flyers having more questions than answers tonight.
And that’s exactly why the Devils need to put their foot down on the gas all night.
Our Devils are not playing their second game in two nights; heck, they’re not even on the front half of a back to back! The team has a day to rest or maybe have a light practice tomorrow, so there’s no reason not to go all out in the home opener tonight. I know the Devils are already starting to deal with injuries (three in the pre-season and now Connor Brown being expected to miss at least the first two games) but there’s still enough depth, and hopefully hunger from some of the younger guys to want to play the hearts out. Don’t give the Flyers a chance to build any momentum; get control early, set the tempo, put a few pucks in net and put that first W on the board.
The Devils we need to see tonight are the ones that showed up against the Islanders in the final preseason game. The first preseason contest that featured the regulars was too close of a game against, basically, the Hartford Wolf Pack. When they came out for game four against the Islanders (mostly) regular players, they absolutely dominated them, and looked really good doing so too. Additionally, the Devils might wind up seeing Flyers backup goalie Joseph Woll tonight. If that’s the case, the Devils need to pepper him and get pucks past him; the team has had a bad habit of making backup goalies look elite and dominating a backup in game one of the season could go a long way towards breaking that trend.
Dominating the opposition in game one of 2026-27 would be a good boost to get the new season moving in the right direction for the Devils. If everything we discussed in the season preview predictions is to be believed, there’s a lot riding on this season for the team. The components are there for success, now it’s all a matter of seeing if the Devils can execute or not.
What are your thoughts on the Devils opening the season against the Flyers tonight; do you want to see the Devils beat them badly? Is a win in general enough for you? Do you think the Devils have the ability to run the score up against a team coming in mad but possibly tired? What do you hope to see most tonight? Leave any comments below, thanks as always for reading and LET’S GO DEVILS!