The New Jersey Devils will be without defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon for Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series versus the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night due to injuries.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed the absence of both players, who did not take part in the morning skate. Both defensemen had left Game 1`s loss on Sunday prematurely, needing help to get off the ice.
Keefe did not provide details on the specific injuries. These setbacks further deplete a roster already missing key players entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As a result, Simon Nemec, the second overall selection in the 2022 draft, and Dennis Cholowski are set to make their postseason debuts.
“These are clearly significant losses for us,” Keefe stated, “but it`s not something we haven`t dealt with during the regular season. The message remains consistent: our team needs to elevate its performance. The group must overcome this challenge. We`ve done it before, and I anticipate we can do so again.”
Dillon suffered a hard fall in the second period of Game 1 after getting tangled up with Carolina`s William Carrier and had difficulty standing afterwards. Coach Keefe mentioned post-game that Dillon wished to return but was not medically cleared.
Hughes sustained his injury in the third period when he fell into the net, appearing to grab his left shoulder. He did, however, manage to return to play later in the game.
The Devils were already missing key players, including top center Jack Hughes, who is out for the season following shoulder surgery in March, and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, sidelined since February with a lower-body injury. Keefe had previously indicated Siegenthaler would likely not return for this series.
Carolina won the series opener decisively, 4-1, after scoring the first three goals and holding a significant shot advantage (4:1 ratio) late in the second period.
On a positive note, center Cody Glass was on the ice and has been cleared to play. Glass was also injured during Game 1 on the same sequence that saw Hughes go down, but his injury occurred when goaltender Jacob Markstrom swung his stick at Carolina`s Andrei Svechnikov near the crease, accidentally hitting Glass and sending him down in pain.
