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Schwei's Devils Notebook: Little-Known Facts, Odd Stats And Strange Records

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils have dropped three straight games in regulation for the first time this season as they continue a tough stretch of 15 of 20 games on the road.

The Devils lost to the Red Wings, 4-2, in Detroit last Friday night. The Red Wings entered play on Friday with a total of three goals from defensemen this season, but backliners Jakub Kindl, Brendan Smith and Niklas Kronwall each scored a goal in the Detroit win.

The last time New Jersey gave up goals to three different opposing defensemen in the same regular season game was back on January 10, 2012, in a 6-3 loss at Calgary. Cory Sarich, T.J. Brodie and Jay Bouwmeester each scored for the Flames in their win.

The Devils also allowed goals to three different opposing defensemen in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Florida on April 17, 2012. Mike Weaver, Jason Garrison and Brian Campbell scored for the Panthers in the 4-3 win.

Prior to Friday night, the Devils had allowed goals in one game to three different Red Wings defensemen twice in club history: On January 25, 1992, Brad McCrimmon, Vladimir Konstantinov and Steve Chiasson each scored in a 7-0 Detroit win at the Meadowlands. The Red Wings got goals from Chiasson, Rick Zombo and Lee Norwood in a 6-4 win against the Devils on December 31, 1989 at Detroit.

Blues rookie Jake Allen had the shutout in St. Louis' 1-0 win against the Devils in Newark last Tuesday and came within 3:25 another two nights later in the Blues' eventual 4-3 victory in St. Louis.

Allen's shutout was just the fourth by a Blues goalie against the Devils in club history, joining Jaroslav Halak (1/28/14), Ty Conklin (3/20/10) and Vincent Riendeau (2/10/90).

According to the player game finder at hockey-reference.com, Allen became just the sixth rookie goalie to record a shutout against New Jersey in the last 20 years and just the 11th all-time vs. the Devils:

· 11/4/14 Jake Allen Stl 1 at NJD 0

· 3/4/12 Anders Nilsson NJD 0 at NYI 1

· 3/11/08 Carey Price NJD 0 at Mtl 4

· 12/23/05 Michael Garnett Atl 1 at NJD 0

· 11/14/96 Mike Fountain Van 3 at NJD 0

· 1/26/95 Blaine Lacher NJD 0 at Bos 1

· 1/6/87 Ron Hextall NJD 0 at Phi 4

· 4/3/85 Warren Skorodenski NJD 0 at Chi 5

· 11/17/84 Steve Penney NJD 0 at Mtl 5

· 3/24/85 Tom Barrasso Buf 6 at NJD 0

· 2/20/83 Bob Froese NJD 0 at Phi 3

Speaking of rookie goaltenders, Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid made his season debut Thursday night in St. Louis in relief of Cory Schneider. Kinkaid allowed one goal in just over 10 minutes of work and was charged with the loss in the 4-3 Blues win.

The last Devils rookie goaltender to lose a game before Kinkaid was Jean-Francois Damphousse back on January 24, 2002, a 4-2 loss against the Thrashers in Atlanta. Damphousse is also the last Devils rookie goalie to win a game, having recorded his first and only career victory on January 9, 2002, a 5-1 win over Calgary in New Jersey.

Prior to Damphousse, who started four games in 2001-02, the last Devils rookie goaltender to start a game for the Devils was Mike Dunham back on April 13, 1997 at Philadelphia, a 5-4 loss in the final game of the regular season.

Cory Schneider has started a career-high 14 consecutive games and now has the third-longest stretch of starts in goal at the beginning of a season in Devils' history.

Martin Brodeur played in 19 straight games from October 6 through November 2, 2001, and 17 in a row from October 10 through November 2, 2002, to begin those seasons.

Schneider has been pulled in four of the 14 games, including the last two in a row in the Devils' losses at St. Louis and Detroit. The last time a New Jersey goalie was pulled in back-to-back games was on March 11 and 14, 2006, when Martin Brodeur was lifted midway through a 6-3 loss at Pittsburgh and again three nights later against the Islanders in a 6-1 defeat at New Jersey.

Those consecutive early exits for Brodeur were his first since being pulled in consecutive games on December 31, 1996 and January 2, 1997, a 6-5 New Jersey loss at Buffalo and a 6-1 Devils' defeat against the Penguins at the Meadowlands.

The Devils have already had 19 different players score at least one goal so far this season, the most of any NHL team through Sunday's games. New Jersey has now had at least 19 different goal scorers in every one of their seasons in club history.

Here are the seasons with the most different players with at least one regular season goal for the Devils:

· 1983-84 29

· 1989-90 29

· 1982-83 28

· 1991-92 27

· 1995-96 27

· 2001-02 27

· 1999-00 26

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Ryding High. Michael Ryder scored twice in the loss in St. Louis, his first multiple-goal game as a Devil and his first overall since April 4, 2013 with Montreal. Ryder is now tied for the team-lead with nine points overall (four goals and five assists).

Minus: Penalty-Killing Low. New Jersey has now allowed an NHL-worst 20 power-play goals in 14 games played. The Devils did not give up their 20th power play goal last season until January 7, their 44th game of the year.

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