The name of the game is depth. If you have it, you’re in a good spot when injuries inevitably pop up. If you don’t, well, it’s never too early to book a springtime vacation far away from the hockey world.

Thursday night, at Prudential Center, in the first game of a home-and-home set between the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals, the Garden State sextet showed just how important depth is in their 5-2 victory over the visitors. Fueled by a “Utica hat-trick” of goals from three recalled players and some strong goaltending, the Devils found a way to win on a night when Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said they weren’t really at their best.

Connor Hellebuyck, fresh off his controversial night off against the Winnipeg Jets, stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced. At the other end of the ice, Logan Thompson stopped 24 of 28.

Scoring five goals and getting some clutch saves is nice, but the Devils were without Anthony Mantha (LTIR, Throat), Brett Pesce (illness), Jonathan Kovacevic (lower-body) and Amadeus Lombardi (healthy scratch). So, they had to plug Stefan Noesen, Lenni Hameenaho and Vladislav Kolyachonok into the lineup.

“I have zero hesitation, because Noesen and Lenni are NHL players,” Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “Noesen’s well established and Lenni, I think he’s gonna continue to develop and he’s, I love how he’s taking advantage of his time in Utica right now. But he played good hockey for us last year. He’s a good player. I had no hesitation to put him in the lineup and no hesitation to put him on the ice.”

After using an 11F/7D lineup for their past two games, the Devils wanted to get back to a more traditional 12F/6D lineup so they wouldn’t overwork any of their players.

“I feel like this schedule, the way that it’s gone, it’s taken a piece of us a little bit and want to get some fresh guys in,” Devils Head Coach Sheldon Keefe told team digital reporter Amanda Stein Thursday morning.

“(Jonathan Kovacevic is) not a day-to-day thing at this point,” Keefe continued. During New Jersey’s loss to the Jets in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Kovacevic appeared to land awkwardly on his leg. Given his lower-body injury history over the past couple of seasons, the Devils are bracing for the possibility of being without him for the foreseeable future. Right now, they’re waiting on imaging and test results before any determination is made.

Over the past several seasons, losing players like a Mantha (who has been a steady top-9 forward) and a Kovacevic (who has been a solid defenseman) has derailed New Jersey. That’s because the organization’s depth was not up to snuff.

This year, that’s all changed. “To help us sustain our play and sustain our game, we’re going to need that over the course of The NHL season,” Keefe said after the game. “So it’s a tremendous asset for us.”

Noesen is just two seasons removed from a 22-goal, 41-point campaign. Now? He has seen more playing time down in Utica in The AHL than he has at The NHL level.

“My job is to play hockey,” Noesen said after the game. “So wherever you gotta go, whatever you gotta do, it’s business.”

At one point last season, Hameenaho was being counted on to provide a spark for the Devils and to bring offense to the lineup while multiple players were out injured. You could argue that he wasn’t ready to be that player for New Jersey. This year, though, the team just needs him to play his game and fill a spot on the fourth line while playing a responsible style of hockey.

“There was a couple shifts that I felt not that great; I felt that it’s a more speedy game than in AHL,” Hameenaho said. “But I think I felt pretty good and obviously can take something from last year’s games.”

As for Kolyachonok, he was a late call-up and hasn’t seen NHL action since last season, when he played 13 total games (11 for the Dallas Stars and two for the Boston Bruins).

“I’m always working hard, trying to do my best,” Kolyachonok explained. “It is what it is. I got sent down, but looking forward to playing better.”

“It’s important for us to not try to do anything out of the ordinary of what we’ve been doing that’s allowed for us to have success,” Connor Brown told Stein Thursday morning.

Sticking to their normal game plan appeared to work early on against the Capitals as the Devils scored a rare (for them) power-play goal 2:20 into the first period. Timo Meier sent a cross-ice pass from the lower left wall to a streaking Evan Rodrigues at the right face-off dot. Rodrigues sniped the puck over Thompson’s right shoulder to give the Devils a 1-0 lead and just their 12th power-play goal of the season (in 62 opportunities).

On the other side of the spectrum, New Jersey’s penalty-kill, which has been shaky at times this season (allowing 14 power-play goals on 41 chances coming into Thursday night), continued to struggle.

After Declan Chisholm was sent to the box for tripping Aliaksei Protas at 12:13 of the first period, Ryan Leonard drove hard to the net and backhanded the puck past Hellebuyck to tie the game 1-1 just three seconds before the penalty expired.

Pierre-Luc Dubois doubled the Devils’ troubles 2:11 into the second period, when he wired a shot past Hellebuyck from the right face-off circle, 2-1 Capitals.

With 9:51 gone in the second period, Brenden Dillon fired a shot from the high slot area toward Thompson. Hameenaho was fighting for position in front of the Capitals’ net and got a piece of the puck with his glove; just enough to redirect it past Thompson to tie the game 2-2.

“Here, you don’t get too many chances to score or don’t have the puck too much,” Hameenaho explained. “So that’s the place to score those ugly goals and yeah, obviously trying to get there and even if it’s not my goal, to screen goalie to get goals for the team.”

Continuing the theme of the depth guys doing their part, with 6:27 gone in the third period, Kolyachonok, in his first game as a Devil, fired a wrist shot that trickled through Thompson’s legs to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.

“We’re playing fast, trying to do the right things and that’s how we get rewarded,” Kolyachonok said. “Boys played great.”

Just shy of 11 minutes after Kolyachonok’s go-ahead goal, Noesen completed the “Utica hat-trick” by hustling up the ice and putting a backhander past Thompson to give the Devils some breathing room and a 4-2 lead.

“I just closed my eyes and I was out of breath at the end of that one,” Noesen quipped. “That was probably the fastest I’ve skated in quite some time. Sometimes you get lucky.”

“Luck” had nothing to do with it. The Devils’ improved depth put them in a position to overcome their absences and still play their game.

“I don’t want to compare it to anything from the past or anything like that, but it’s a good sign when, as a coach, ‘A’, Kolyachonok’s new here, he steps in and like we talked about, challenging circumstances, does a good job,” Keefe explained. “But just because we’ve added such additional depth throughout our lineup, never mind the guys who are in Utica that came in today, just here on our NHL team, that’s why some of these guys, that’s why Noesen and Lenni are playing in the American League.”

All that was left was for Jack Hughes to salt the game away with an empty-netter at 19:15 of the third period to give the Devils their 5-2 margin of victory.

“I don’t think I’ve seen that (three guys getting called up and all scoring in the same night). It might be a record of some sort, but that was cool,” Evan Rodrigues said. “It talks to the depth in the organization. But you need it. No one’s gonna be healthy throughout the full season. You need guys to be able to step in and give the coach the ability to run four lines and three D-pairs and makes his job a lot easier when you can do that and when you can trust everyone that’s in the lineup.”