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The New Jersey Devils will look to knot up their first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 on Tuesday night — but they'll have to do it without two of their most important defensemen.
Both Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon will not suit up at the Lenovo Center, head coach Sheldon Keefe announced. In the absence of the two blue liners, Simon Nemec and Dennis Cholowski will draw into the lineup. It will be the Stanley Cup Playoff debut for both players.
Dillon was involved in an awkward collision in front of New Jersey's net and needed to be helped off the ice during Sunday's 4-1 loss. It's not clear why Hughes will be unavailable, although he missed 11 games due to injury during the 2024-25 regular season.
At Tuesday's morning skate, Dougie Hamilton was paired with Brett Pesce on the top unit, while Brian Dumoulin and Johnathan Kovacevic made up the second pair and Nemec and Cholowski rounded out the blue line.
Hughes and Dillon will be difficult to replace; the former led all New Jersey defensemen with 44 points in 71 games during the regular season, while the latter paced all Devils D-men with 191 hits.
The Devils remain without Jonas Siegenthaler on the D-core, while superstar forward Jack Hughes won't be an option all postseason after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier this year.
Devils looking to take back home-ice advantage in Game 2
It's no secret that the Devils weren't at their best in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon. They directed just 24 shots at Canes goaltender Frederik Andersen, while allowing 45 shots against.
“There's a few different things that really stood out,” Keefe said ahead of Game 2, per NHL.com's Mike G. Morreale. “Our ability to get out of our zone, which we knew was going to be a great challenge in this series, I thought at times we were able to accomplish that, but clearly not enough. When you don't get out and get through against these guys, they turn on you, and they can turn it into a barrage of chances or shots against.”
“They're a fast team and they forecheck hard,” echoed goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who made 41 saves in the defeat. “I thought they played a good game and I think we didn't really come up to our standard. These are the games you want to play. I think we're all excited to get back out there again and get another crack at it.”
Despite having the league's third best powerplay in the regular season, the Devils went 0-for-2 with the man advantage while being outscored 2-0 and outshot 32-22 at 5-on-5. They'll look for better results on both special teams and at even strength on Tuesday night.
Puck is set to drop in Raleigh for Game 2 just past 6:00 p.m. ET as New Jersey looks to get the better of Carolina and send the series back to Newark knotted 1-1.
