Jacob Markstrom injury a tough pill to swallow for New Jersey Devils

More weight will fall on the shoulders of the offense in his absence.

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Wednesday night was almost perfect for the New Jersey Devils. They honored the great Jacques Lemaire prior to the game and, after coming out a little slow, completely took it to the Boston Bruins.

From ~10 minutes in until the final whistle, the Devils dominated the Bruins in every facet and put forth one of the best performances we’ve seen from them in some time.

Dawson Mercer was an absolute dog all night long, scoring a pair of goals and working his tail off to sustain possessions in the offensive zone.

Dougie Hamilton had his first multi-point game in nearly two months, all four star forwards hit the scoresheet, the power play fired on all cylinders, and the team defended very well. The Devils checked all the boxes.

Unfortunately, Jacob Markstrom was lost in the process and it didn’t look good.

Based off the initial reaction from the organization, I don’t think Markstrom’s injury is season-threatening. But it sure sounds like he’s going to miss a decent chunk of time.

Losing Markstrom is far from ideal for a Devils squad looking to regain its footing and reclaim the No. 2 seed in the Metro Division.

Markstrom has carried an immense workload – far greater than I expected – and looked the part of one of the best goaltenders in the NHL.

Markstrom has posted a .912 save percentage (12th best) and .841 high-danger save percentage (7th best) while playing more games than all but Connor Hellebuyck. He’s been an absolute workhorse.

While I don’t think Markstrom’s had to ‘steal’ many games, he’s a big-time difference maker because of the reliability and consistency in his level of play.

Markstrom ranks 3rd in Quality Starts. Perhaps more importantly, he has almost entirely avoided blow-up games.

Markstrom has been ‘credited’ with just three Really Bad Starts, a miniscule number considering he’s made 36.