Devils HC Gives Heartwarming Speech After Snapping Losing Streak

The New Jersey Devils and head coach Sheldon Keefe are back in the win column.

New Jersey rode out a five-game losing streak, falling to the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights and Boston Bruins. This all changed on Dec. 9, with the Devils capturing a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. Forward Cody Glass posted the game winner for New Jersey with a wrist shot in the third period, assisted by Arseny Gritsyuk and Connor Brown (all members of the third line).

Sheldon Keefe Speaks to Locker Room Following Devils' Win over Senators

The game winner from Glass marked his fifth goal of the year.

Gritsyuk concluded play against the Senators with three points — off of tallying a total of two assists and one goal. The four-goal victory for New Jersey comes after the Devils scored just one goal in their previous three games.

In the locker room postgame, Keefe said he was proud of the battles displayed on the Ottawa ice to his roster.

"Fellas, when you're trying to come out of it, when things haven't been going your way, it's not going to be easy," Keefe said. "You're going to have to grind to find your way through. I wouldn't have asked for it to go any differently, for us to battle, compete like that all the way to the end ... All those battles at the end, that's how you turn it. That's how you turn it, right? You just take it and compete."

The previously referenced third line of Glass, Brown and Gritsyuk totaled eight points at the Canadian Tire Center and shows the strength the Devils' possess when needing to step up when times matter most.

It had to be this line. It had to be Cody Glass. pic.twitter.com/towwVBnxlH
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 10, 2025

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom recorded 35 saves for a .921 SV%.

“I actually think that the harder [the Senators] came to the net, the harder Mark[strom] played. I don’t know if there is a greater competitor that we have than Marky," Keefe said of his netminder. "So you start going hard to the net like that, he’s going to be that much more engaged in the game and competing. I thought it was great, the way he stood his ground in those moments, but also just dug in and helped will our team to getting the two points.”

All three goals scored by Ottawa came with the man-advantage due to the power-play.

The Devils look to build upon their win streak by taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 11 in a return to Prudential Center following games at the Boston Bruins and Ottawa.

Keefe was hired as HC of the Devils back in May, 2024 and replaced Travis Green.

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