It’s time to rock ‘n’ roll! The New Jersey Devils haven’t played a game that counted at Prudential Center since April 12, 2026 (a 4-3 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators). That’s 172 days. 

Thursday night in Newark, that all changed as the Devils hosted the Philadelphia Flyers in their Home and Season Opener. The game, a 3-2 overtime Devils victory, featured the offensive prowess of both teams’ blue lines as Rasmus Ristolainen, Dougie Hamilton, Travis Sanheim and Luke Hughes were responsible for all four regulation goals. Jack Hughes finished things off with a backdoor goal off a pass from Jesper Bratt at 3:23 of overtime to win the game. 

Jake Allen drew the start in net and was opposed by Joseph Woll as the Flyers were on the back end of a back-to-back set. Allen stopped 23 of the 25 shots sent his way. On the other side, Woll stood on his head and was the main reason the game even went to overtime as he stopped 41 of the 44 shots New Jersey sent his way. 

Amadeus Lombardi, arguably New Jersey’s most-talked-about player during the pre-season, made his NHL Debut, starting with a helmetless rookie lap before his teammates joined him on the ice for pre-game warmups. “The guys were telling me (to) go fix my hair (before the rookie lap),” Lombardi said after the game.

“These guys took a bet on me,” Lombardi told NHL.com’s Mike Morreale on Wednesday. “These guys are willing to give me an opportunity. I’m going to make sure they look really good for betting on me.”

With an estimated 15 people (family and friends) in attendance, Lombardi played the second-fewest minutes (8:03) of any Devils skater. 

“I think there was a shift in the second period I had with (Luke) Evangelista and Nico (Hischier),” Lombardi recounted. “We just had some sustained O-zone (time), a couple puck touches. That’s kind of when I first got my feet under me and I was like, ‘Okay, let’s go now.'”

Evan Rodrigues, Anthony Mantha, Luke Evangelista and Declan Chisholm formally made their Devils debuts. Evangelista in particular played an important role in the game’s outcome, setting up Luke Hughes for the game-tying goal midway through the third period. 

The Garden Staters extended their home-opener winning streak to two straight years, finally breaking the every-other-year streak they’d had going since the 2020-21 season.

In the first period, the Devils came out swarming and even drew three penalties. However, they only put together six shots on goal during their six combined minutes of power-play time and were unable to break through for a goal. 

Opposite them, the Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen scored 11:12 into the game when he tipped a high shot from Travis Sanheim that redirected past Allen for the first goal of the game, 1-0 Philly. 

It took until 17:58 of the second period for the Devils to respond. With New Jersey vastly outplaying Philadelphia, the lone exception being Ristolainen’s goal, a brief cycle in the Flyers’ zone ended with Dougie Hamilton firing a shot from just inside the blue line, near the Devils bench, that beat Woll to tie the game 1-1. 

“I had a good shot before that,” Hamilton recalled. “I think it might’ve hit the ‘D’ or something. I don’t know. I thought it was going in, but then, obviously, really good traffic on the next one and somehow made it through. Obviously, that doesn’t go in if there’s no one in front. You gotta do those things to score goals.”

It was a much-needed payoff as the Devils had an all-situations Corsi For % of 78.05 in the first period and 71.74 in the second. 

On New Jersey’s fourth power-play of the game, courtesy of Christian Dvorak’s high-sticking penalty 37 seconds into the third period, the Devils came within a toe of scoring as Woll got the tip of his skate on Jesper Bratt’s shot to keep the puck out of the net. 

Roughly three minutes after Dvorak exited the box, Sanheim carried the puck over New Jersey’s blue line and fired a laser past Allen to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. 

Then, just over four minutes after Sanheim’s blast, Luke Hughes answered with one of his own, a rocket from the high slot as he was skating toward the left face-off circle, tying the game 2-2 with 10:16 remaining in the third period. At that point in the game, all four goals had been scored by defensemen. 

“A great play by Evangelista on the entry and Luke (Hughes); he does what we need him to do,” Keefe explained. “Being that fourth man in and (a) great finish.”

With the game tied 2-2, the teams went to overtime and just like New Jersey’s last game at Prudential Center, the Devils won it in the extra period thanks to a give-and-go play between Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Hughes finished off the play with a backdoor wrist shot that beat Woll and gave the Devils their 3-2 victory. Fittingly, Jack Hughes registered the first shot of the game and the last.

“I think we’ve done that many times,” Hughes quipped. “I mean, that give-and-go play, right away, I think of the Montreal goal last year at home. But definitely a great handle by him. That pass was a bit of a grenade that I sent his way, so great handle. Back to me, empty net. We’ve been doing that for years and look forward to doing it for a lot more years with him.”

New Jersey was the stronger team for much of the night and found a way to win despite the injury bug already returning to bite them. 

Connor Brown missed the game with a lower-body injury that will sideline him through at least Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders. Seamus Casey injured his knee during the pre-season and is out indefinitely. Nick Bjugstad tore his left pectoral muscle during the offseason and is expected to be out for a couple of months. Finally, Jonathan Kovacevic had a procedure done on his knee during the offseason and while he’s closing in on returning, remains out. 

“I think he’s feeling better physically,” Devils’ Head Coach Sheldon Keefe told Morreale Thursday morning about Kovacevic. “Just a matter now of ramping him up. Obviously missing training camp.”

So, yes, the storylines were plentiful Thursday night, but the most important outcome is that the Devils controlled play most of the game and they found a way to win even though Woll played well, which is something they didn’t do often enough last season. Game One is in the books and Game Two is Saturday night at UBS Arena against the Islanders.