Schwei: Getting The 1st Win, Schneider Gets It Done And More Devils Notes

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils finally got their first win of the 2013-14 season, a 4-0 victory over the rival New York Rangers, this past Saturday night at Prudential Center.

Cory Schneider got New Jersey "off the schneid," making 22 saves to earn his first win and shutout as a Devil. Schneider became just the fourth New Jersey goalie other than Martin Brodeur to register the team's first win of a season since Brodeur's rookie season of 1993-94:

• 1993-94: Chris Terreri, 2-1 vs. TB

• 2007-08: Kevin Weekes, 4-1 at Fla

• 2011-12: Johan Hedberg, 4-2 vs. Car

• 2013-14: Cory Schneider, 4-0 vs. NYR

For just the fourth time in club history, the first Devils' win of a season was also a shutout:

• 1995-96: Martin Brodeur, 4-0 vs. Fla

• 2006-07: Martin Brodeur, 4-0 at Car

• 2010-1: Martin Brodeur, 1-0(OT) at Buf

• 2013-14: Cory Schneider, 4-0 vs. NYR

The shutout was just the fifth by a Devils goalie other than Brodeur against the Rangers. Brodeur has nine career regular-season shutouts vs. the cross-river rival. Here are the other five:

• 10/19/13: Cory Schneider, NYR 0 at NJD 4

• 2/18/11: Johan Hedberg, NYR 0 at NJD 1

• 2/9/09: Scott Clemmensen, NYR 0 at NJD 3

• 10/10/88: Sean Burke, NJD 5 at NYR 0

• 11/18/84: Ron Low, NJD 6 at NYR 0

Travis Zajac scored a power-play goal, his first of the season, in New Jersey's 5-2 loss in Ottawa last Thursday. It was the 99th goal of his NHL career, all of which have been with the Devils.

20 players have scored 100 or more goals for New Jersey, but only two -- Patrik Elias and Sergei Brylin -- scored all of their career goals for the Devils:

Player      |    Goals for Devils   | Goals for other teams*

• Patrik Elias         377                                     0

• John MacLean    347                                    66

• Bobby Holik        202                                   124

• Zach Parise        194                                     22

• Kirk Muller         185                                    172

• Pat Verbeek        170                                    352

• Petr Sykora         166                                    157

• Brian Gionta       152                                     80

• Randy McKay      151                                     11

• Aaron Broten      147                                     39

• Stephane Richer 147                                    274

• Jamie Langenbrunner 142                           101

• Claude Lemieux   142                                   237

• John Madden       140                                    25

• Brian Rolston       130                                   212

• Sergei Brylin        129                                     0

• Scott Gomez         116                                   56

• Scott Niedermayer 112                                60

• Jason Arnott        110                                   307

• Bill Guerin           108                                   321

*-active players totals through 10/20/13

Erik Karlsson scored a goal and added two assists against Brodeur in the Ottawa Senators' 5-2 win over the Devils.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Karlsson was the first defenseman to earn three points against Brodeur in one game since Washington's John Carlson had a goal and two assists vs. Brodeur in a 7-2 Capitals win on October 9, 2010.

There have only been 16 regular-season games in which an opposing defenseman has registered three-or-more points in a game with Brodeur in goal:

• 10/17/13: Erik Karlsson, Ott (3pts 1G 2A)

• 10/9/10: John Carlson, Wsh (3pts 1G 2A)

• 12/2/09: Alex Edler Van, (3pts 1G 2A)

• 10/17/07: Sergei Gonchar, Pit (3pts 1G 2A)

• 2/1/07: Alexandre Picard, Phi (5pts 0G 5A)

• 12/31/05: Tomas Kaberle, Tor (3pts 1G 2A)

• 4/1/03: Tomas Kaberle, Tor (3pts 1G 2A)

• 10/17/01: Brian Leetch, NYR (3pts 1G 2A)

• 4/3/01: Sergei Gonchar, Was (3pts 1G 2A)

• 2/19/00: Kenny Jonsson, NYI (3pts 0G 3A)

• 1/11/00: Paul Mara, TB (3pts 1G 2A)

• 11/13/99: Dmitri Mironov, Was (3pts 1G 2A)

• 1/24/98: Brian Leetch, NYR (3pts 0G 3A).

• 1/2/97: Jason Woolley, Pit (3pts 0G 3A).

• 11/18/95: Alexei Zhitnik, Buf (4pts 1G 3A).

• 12/26/93: Sergei Zubov, NYR (3pts 0G 3A).

Both Rob Blake (in Game 1) and Adam Foote (in Game 6) had three-point games against Brodeur in the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals for Colorado. The Penguins' Larry Murphy had the only other three-point game by a defenseman vs. Brodeur in the postseason back in 1995. (Thanks to the Player Game Finder at Hockey-Reference.com for supplying the data for this information.)

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Minus: Last First -- With their 4-0 victory against the Rangers on Saturday night, the Devils became the last team in the NHL to win a game in 2013-14. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since the Devils moved to New Jersey in 1982 that they had the dubious distinction of being the last NHL team to get into the win column in a season.

Plus: Marek Zidlicky -- The defenseman posted a pair of assists in New Jersey's win over the Rangers and now leads the Devils with seven points (0G-7A) in eight games.

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