Welcome to the most difficult part of the schedule on paper. Tonight through March 24, the New Jersey Devils have an eight-game stretch against top teams in both conferences with a six-game road trip bookended by two difficult opponents in Newark. Tonight was the first of these eight games: hosting the Winnipeg Jets, who came into this game with 40 wins and 91 points. they left Newark with 41 wins and 93 points. The Devils lost to the Jets, 2-3. While the score was close, it was still a disappointing loss.
The eventual game winning goal summed up what went wrong for the Devils tonight and, really, most of the 2018 portion of this season for the Devils.