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

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils head to the NHL All-Star break after winning two of three on their California road trip.

The Devils made it a winning road swing with a 5-2 victory Monday night in San Jose. The five goals were one shy of New Jersey's most ever in a road game against the Sharks.

On November 2, 1992, the Devils defeated the Sharks 6-1 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Peter Stastny had two goals, including the game-winner. Slava Fetisov, Stephane Richer, Scott Niedermayer and Alexei Kasatonov all scored as well in the win. Niedermayer's goal was the first of his Hall of Fame career.

The only other time New Jersey scored five goals on the road against the Sharks was at their current home, the SAP Center in San Jose, nearly 12 years ago on January 22, 2003. The Devils won that night, 5-4, on Joe Nieuwendyk's overtime goal, his second of the game. Jeff Friesen, Sergei Brylin and Niedermayer also scored in the win.

Tim Sestito had an assist as he played his 100th game for the New Jersey Devils Monday night. Sestito, who also played one game for Edmonton back in 2008, has yet to score a goal in the NHL.

Here is the list of players who played the most career games for New Jersey without scoring a goal for the Devils:

- David Hale: 146

- Tim Sestito: 100

- Sheldon Brookbank: 59

- Eric Boulton: 51

- P.L. Letourneau-Leblond: 37

- Matthew Corrente: 34

- Jay Leach: 31

The Devils lost to the Ducks, 5-1, last Friday night in Anaheim. Keith Kinkaid took the loss, allowing four goals after relieving Cory Schneider after the first period.

The last time a Devils goalie allowed more than four goals in a game he didn't start was on April 16, 1993. Craig Billington gave up five in relief of Chris Terreri in an 8-4 loss to the Islanders in the final game of the regular season.

The Devils scored three goals in a 1:08 span in their 5-3 win over the Kings last Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

The last time the Devils scored three goals in 68 seconds or less was in a 5-5 tie with Philadelphia on November 23, 1991. Kevin Todd, Stastny and Doug Brown all scored in a span of only 42 seconds. That three-goal sequence matched the club record for fastest three goals set by Tim Higgins, Uli Hiemer and Phil Russell, back on February 16, 1985 in a 6-3 win at Toronto.

Eleven different Devils recorded at least one point in their four-goal second period against the Kings. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since November 1, 2008 that the Devils had 11 or more different players record at least one point in a period.

Eleven different Devils recorded a point in a five-goal second period against the Thrashers that night in a 6-1 win, the game in which Martin Brodeur tore a biceps tendon that resulted in his missing four months of action.

Steve Bernier scored twice in the win in Los Angeles. No Devil has ever had a hat trick in a road game against the Kings, but there have now been nine two-goal games for New Jersey players in L.A.:

- Steve Bernier, 1/14/15 (NJD 5 at LA 3)

- Dainius Zubrus, 10/25/11 (NJD 3 at LA 0)

- John Madden, 11/23/00 (NJD 6 at LA 1)

- Dave Andreychuk, 1/21/97 (NJD 4 at LA 1)

- Neal Broten, 11/4/95 (NJD 4 at LA 2)

- John MacLean, 11/20/90 (NJD 4 at LA 5)

- John MacLean, 2/2/89 (NJD 6 at LA 6)

- John MacLean, 11/29/88 (NJD 3 at LA 9)

- Pat Verbeek, 11/29/86 (NJD 6 at LA 9)

Patrik Elias is headed to his fourth-career NHL All-Star game this weekend in Columbus. Elias has represented New Jersey in three previous All-Star games: Carolina in 2011, Los Angeles in 2002 and Toronto in 2000.

Only three other New Jersey Devils have been selected to as many NHL All-Star games as Elias:

- Scott Stevens: 11 (appeared in 10)

- Martin Brodeur: 10 (appeared in 9)

- Kirk Muller: 4

- Patrik Elias: 4

- Scott Niedermayer: 3

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Mike Cammalleri -- Scored his fifth game-winning goal of the season in the 5-2 victory at San Jose. Cammalleri now has 10 game-winners in his last 50 games dating back to last March 12 with Calgary.

Minus: No Shot -- The Devils had just 15 shots on goal in the loss at Anaheim, including a season-low one for the second time this season in the second period (12/31 at Detroit).