Devils Win a Wild One in Vancouver | GAME STORY

VANCOUVER, BC -Lenni Hämeenaho recorded the first two points of his NHL career with a goal and an assist as the Devils held on for a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night at Rogers Arena. Linemate Cody Glass led the way with a three-point performance, scoring twice and adding an assist, as the Glass line delivered in a second straight game.

The win gives New Jersey victories in four of its last six games and extends its win-streak to three straight.

“I think the biggest thing is that we understand what it looks like when we’re playing well,” Connor Brown said. “Even a game like that, you come away with a win, but we understand thats not what it’s supposed to look like for us, you learn from wins and losses too. So, just keep getting better and back to what’s made us successful as of late.”

Hämeenaho opened the scoring to give the Devils a 1-0 lead after one, and New Jersey added to it in the second period. Goals from Nico Hischier and Glass pushed the lead to 3-0 before Vancouver began to push back.

The Canucks broke through when Linus Karlsson capitalized on a puck that slipped free of Jacob Markstrom’s glove, sparking a stretch of back-and-forth hockey. Teddy Blueger followed with a shorthanded goal to pull Vancouver within one, but Connor Brown responded to restore the Devils’ two-goal lead.

It wasn't pretty. But a win is a win.

"There’s a lot of chaos in the game, some that we created ourselves, particularly at the end of the game, but it’s a lot better to learn inside the chaos after a win, there’s no doubt about that,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said.

Vancouver closed the gap again late in the third period when Zeev Buium jumped on a bouncing puck and snapped it past Markstrom, sending the game to the third period with New Jersey clinging to a one-goal lead.

The teams traded goals in the final period. Glass buried his second of the night before Brock Boeser answered for Vancouver, cutting the deficit to one with 1:12 remaining, but the Devils held on to secure the win.

"It’s been a really good road trip for us,” Keefe said. “I think as much as you don’t love some of the things that happened today, giving the game back a little bit in that second period, giving them life and hope at the end of the game, some of that can serve as a nice little jolt on this road trip to keep us focused and keep us improving along the way.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• On Thursday afternoon, when asked about the makeup of his new forward lines that have produced wins in the Devils' previous two games, head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke about the dynamics that have been brewing on the club's fourth line between Arseny Gritsyuk, Cody Glass, and newcomer Lenni Hämeenaho.

Keefe said that Hämeenaho has “fit in beautifully” since he made his NHL debut just three games ago. Post-game in Vancouver, Keefe continued to shine a light on the rookie.

"We’ve been kind of building towards this," the head coach said. "Obviously, Lenni’s development in Utica in particular is something that we’ve been monitoring and waiting and feeling like we would get a look like this when he was ready for it. And as I spoke about this morning, Glass’s progression, his game in teh last month or six weeks, he’s been hot in scoring, but his overall game has been very, very, solid. Because of that, I think he’s now able to help carry a line and Gritsyuk’s helped. Now you get Lenni involved and you can move Brownie around and you can get more from your group that way. That’s kind of what we’ve been waiting for. But Lenni’s development and the patience that we’ve shown to allow him to find his game and to come up when he’s ready has really served us well in the early going.”

On Wednesday night in Edmonton, the line connected for two goals, with Gritsyuk and Glass each scoring, and then it was the turn of Hämeenaho.

In his third NHL game, the 21-year-old opened the scoring between the Devils and Canucks and registered his first NHL goal. The Devils' bench exploded in excitement, and Glass, who picked up the secondary assist after his faceoff win, skated, arms wide open, to the rookie Finn in celebration.

Later, Hämeenaho would return the favor, picking up the primary assist on Glass’ 3-0 goal, for his second point of the night and multi-point game.

“It was a great feeling," Hämeenaho said of scoring his first NHL goal, "Something you kind of don’t know before it happens, so it was great, a great feeling.”

• Cody Glass earned his second multi-goal game for 2025-26, which marks a career high for a single season.

• The Devils' penalty kill did not get a ton of work against the Canucks, called upon just twice: once in the first period and once again in the third. But they were efficient with their time and successful, not only keeping the Canucks off the board but allowing just a single shot while New Jersey was shorthanded.

• There was a slight adjustment to the Devils' power play, sliding Connor Brown onto the first unit. While he didn’t factor in New Jersey’s opening man-advantage, the group of Brown, Dougie Hamilton, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Jack Hughes did connect for a goal. Hughes spotted Hischier in the high slot and fed him for a one-timer that kicked in behind Kevin Lankinen, giving the Devils a 2-0 lead.

Later, with Vancouver’s Connor Garland serving a double minor for high-sticking Hischier, the Devils struck again on the power play. Despite surrendering a shorthanded goal early, New Jersey regrouped and capitalized when Brown buried a shot from the slot. The goal put the Devils up 4-2 and was Brown's 10th of the season.

“That huge,” Brown said of the power play responding after giving up the shorthanded goal. “Our power play hasn’t exactly been clicking as of late, and for the power play to almost win us the game tonight with those two goals, it was pretty important for us. That’s something to build on.”

New Jersey's power play went 2-for-3 against the Canucks.