Preparation in The NHL is paramount if you’re hoping for a successful outcome. Every team and every player has its own strengths, skills, weaknesses and tendencies. So, even though some teams are more talented than others, a team that is better prepared and executes its plan better has a greater chance of winning the game. 

Sunday afternoon, at Prudential Center, on the second-half of a weekend back-to-back, the New Jersey Devils hosted the Vancouver Canucks. But this is a Canucks team vastly different from the one the Devils faced last season. After all, Vancouver just traded away its Captain, Quinn Hughes, to Minnesota for center Marco Rossi, defenseman Zeev Buium, forward Liam Ohgren, and a 2026 first-round draft pick. That shake-up certainly affects how the Devils are prepared to play the Canucks. The final score, a 2-1 Devils’ loss, reflects the challenges in that preparation.

“It becomes a little more challenging,” Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said before the game about facing a team that just significantly changed its roster. “It’s a team we haven’t seen before, obviously, with Quinn Hughes not being there. He played half the game and impacted a lot of things when he was there. So you’re not quite sure what you can pull. We’re trying to just kinda decipher that a little bit. But the guys they brought in have got lots of skill and speed, and they’ll be coming in with lots of confidence and a new opportunity. 

“They’re young guys who will play significant roles there. So, that’ll be more of what we’re combating here today and the fact that they’ve been here for two days waiting on us while we were battling hard and competing yesterday. There’s some challenges there for us, but there was a challenge there yesterday and our guys met that head-on. So that’s what I expect today, too.”

Another challenge the Devils faced was staying consistent on defense and helping out goalie Jacob Markstrom, who has struggled of late. 

“As I said yesterday, when the players in front of the goaltender play better and with better structure, the game becomes a lot simpler and more predictable for everyone on the ice, including the goaltender,” Keefe explained. “I thought Jake Allen was excellent yesterday, but he was not the story of the game. He just does his job. We need Markstrom to do his job, but we gotta make it easier on him. Playing goal for New Jersey, the last stretch of games has not been an easy task. So we’re gonna focus on the play in front of him and Marky will be just fine.”

Against the Canucks, Markstrom stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced. At the other end of the ice, Thatcher Demko manned the pipes for Vancouver and made 25 saves 25 on 26 shots faced.

New Jersey did not meet the challenge in the first period as Dougie Hamilton was called for slashing Conor Garland 43 seconds into the game. It took Vancouver all of 18 seconds to score a power-play goal as Jake DeBrusk batted in his own rebound to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 1:01. 

Stefan Noesen was called for boarding Liam Ohgren 5:44 into the game and once more, New Jersey’s penalty-kill came up short. This time, Zeev Buium, who was credited with a secondary assist on DeBrusk’s goal, shot the puck wide of the net, but it deflected off Brenden Dillon and bounced past Markstrom to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead. 

For the second straight game, the Devils were granted a lengthy five-on-three power-play when Tyler Myers was called for interfering with Connor Brown and then Kiefer Sheerwood was penalized for closing his hand on the puck. The five-on-three lasted 1:17, but New Jersey was unable to capitalize on their opportunities. 

The Devils finally managed a successful penalty-kill late in the period when they held the Canucks without a goal after Xavier Parent was sent to the box at 16:38 for hooking Tom Willander.

“I think, obviously, we didn’t have a great start with the penalties and us not killing it off,” said Luke Hughes. “That’s fixable stuff. But other than that, I think in the second period and in the third, we took it to them and played really well. We just gotta come out with a better start, which we usually do.”

Initially, the second period didn’t look to be any better for the Devils. However, that changed 4:02 into the middle period when Dawson Mercer made a nice pass to Jesper Bratt, who fed the puck to a trailing Luke Hughes in the slot. The youngest Hughes brother sniped a wrist shot past Demko and drew New Jersey within 2-1. From there, the Garden Staters found their legs, were able to generate numerous chances and really pushed the pace of the game, but they scored no more goals. 

“I thought Luke was really good again today,” Keefe said. “I think he was a primary driver for us offensively. Not just ’cause of the goal, but just skating the puck through the neutral zone and some of his plays in the offensive zone. I thought, offensively, he was a driver.”

The Devils did get one more chance on the power-play, 1:10 into the third period, when Tyler Myers was called for interfering with Cody Glass. But they let that opportunity slip through their hands. Defensively, they clamped down, allowing Vancouver just a single shot on goal in the final period, but Demko came up big down the stretch and made several impressive saves to deny the Devils a chance to tie the game. 

Next up is a mini road trip where they will play Vegas (on Wednesday) and Utah (on Friday) before coming back home to take on Buffalo next Sunday.