The New Jersey Devils have shot the puck better than almost every team in the NHL. They rank second in the league as of Wednesday.
Per Hockey-Reference, the Devils have fired the puck at the net 627 times in 19 games. That’s good for 33 shots on goal per game. Only the Carolina Hurricanes (632 shots) have gotten more shots off.
Finding ways to consistently shoot the puck at the net is one massive reason the Devils have already scored 67 times, good for fifth in the league. The problem, however, is what happens when they are having an off-night.
In New Jersey’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, they shot the puck 21 times. Winnipeg, on the other hand, landed 25 shots. Manageable, but it marked the second time in 2026-27 that an opponent outshot the Devils.
The first time came on Oct. 28 in a 5-2 loss against the Colorado Avalanche. New Jersey is now 0-2-0 when an opponent outshoots them, and 13-4-0 when they outshoot an opponent.
Devils Must Find A Way To Compensate During Off-Nights
The Devils had an off-night on Tuesday, and Sheldon Keefe let them know about it. New Jersey is 19 games into an 84-game season, and it won’t be the last time they let an opponent outshoot them.
While 0-2-0 when getting outshot isn’t an alarming stat yet, it is a trend that the Devils don’t have an answer for. Not only did Colorado and Winnipeg outshoot them, but those were two games when the Devils accumulated their lowest number of shots.
In that loss to Colorado, the Devils shot the puck 22 times. Their third-worst game shooting the puck came in a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 24, when they landed 26 shots. So, they landed four more shots in their third-worst game shooting the puck than they did against Colorado.
How do they compensate when they aren’t shooting the puck the way they often have? Defensively, somebody needs to step up. They allowed four goals on Tuesday against Winnipeg and five on Oct. 28 against Colorado.
Both games point to that lack of energy Keefe pointed out after Tuesday night’s loss. That said, the Devils may mitigate this issue without reinventing the wheel.
Connor Hellebuyck Will Help Out The Cause
In both matchups the Devils lost when getting outshot, Jake Allen was the starting goaltender. Chances are, Hellebuyck, unless he’s simultaneously struggling through a rare bad game, will do a better job keeping opponents in check than Allen.
Allen allowed five goals against the Avalanche before allowing three against the Jets. Hellebuyck has proven to be durable throughout his career and has repeatedly stopped even the most high-octane units. That will make him New Jersey’s greatest defensive asset when they inevitably can’t get shots going.
Ideally, the team plays better defensively on those nights to keep games closer. That didn’t happen against Colorado, but the Devils buckled down against Winnipeg. Still, one bad period hurt them early.
They will get that shot at getting back on track in their upcoming home-and-home series against the Washington Capitals.
Devils’ Surprising Season-Long Trend Continues in Jets Loss