Schwei's Devils Notebook: Little-Known Facts, Odd Stats And Strange Records
By John Schweibacher
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After matching their season-high three-game winning streak, the New Jersey Devils have dropped two in a row for the first time in more than a month.
New Jersey lost to Edmonton, 2-1, Monday night at Prudential Center. After taking an early lead on Patrik Elias' 401st career goal, Oscar Klefbom tied the game for the Oilers late in the first period.
The Devils had not allowed a goal in the first period in any of their previous six games, going back to Joe Pavelski's goal at 3:59 of the first period for San Jose back on January 19, New Jersey's last game prior to the All-Star break.
The Devils have now allowed 27 first-period goals, the fewest in the NHL. But New Jersey has given up 112 total goals in the second and third periods of games, the sixth-most in the NHL.
Fewest Goals Allowed In The First Period
•New Jersey: 27
•NY Rangers: 31
•Ottawa: 32
•Nashville: 33
•Anaheim: 34
Most Goals Allowed In The Second And Third Periods
•Buffalo: 140
•Arizona: 120
•Edmonton: 118
•Dallas: 115
•Columbus: 114
•New Jersey: 112
The Devils' three-game winning streak and six-game points streak came to an end Saturday night with their 6-2 loss to the Canadians in Montreal.
It was the first time New Jersey allowed six or more goals in a game against Montreal since 1992, and the sixth time overall:
• 2/7/15: NJD 2 at Montreal 6
• 11/11/92: Montreal 8 at NJD 3
• 10/14/88: Montreal 7 at NJD 3
• 12/28/85: NJD 3 at Montreal 8
• 12/27/85: Montreal 7 at NJD 3
• 12/20/83: NJD 0 at Montreal 6
On Saturday night in Montreal, Andy Greene became the seventh player in team history to play in 200 consecutive regular-season games. Here are the longest consecutive-games played streaks in club history:
• 401: Travis Zajac (10/26/06-4/10/11)
• 388: Ken Daneyko (11/4/89-3/29/94)
• 328: Sergei Brylin (10/8/03-4/6/08)
• 321: Kirk Muller (4/5/87-3/31/91)
• 288: Aaron Broten (3/27/86-1/4/90)
• 266: Aaron Broten (12/26/82-2/16/86)
• 201: Andy Greene (3/6/12-present)
The Devils beat the Maple Leafs, 4-1, last Friday night at Prudential Center. Elias scored the 400th goal of his career in the win, becoming the 91st player in NHL history to reach the milestone. Elias is the fourth player to reach the 400-goal milestone as a member of the New Jersey Devils:
• Patrik Elias: 2/6/15 vs. Toronto
• Ilya Kovalchuk: 3/20/12 at Ottawa
• Bernie Nicholls: 10/31/93 vs. NY Rangers
• Peter Stastny: 1/30/91 at Los Angeles
Cory Schneider gave up one goal in New Jersey' victory over Toronto Friday night in Newark, the second time on the Devils' homestand that he allowed one goal in a New Jersey win against the Leafs.
Only one Devils goaltender has ever posted a shutout against the Maple Leafs in a regular-season game played in New Jersey, and only three other Devils netminders have allowed just one goal in a regular-season home-ice contest vs. the Leafs. (And no, somehow Martin Brodeur never did, either.):
• 2/6/15: Tor 1 NJD 4, Cory Schneider (34 shots, 33 saves)
• 1/28/15: Tor 1 NJD 2, SO Cory Schneider (30 shots, 29 saves)
• 11/7/03: Tor 1 NJD 1, Corey Schwab (28 shots, 27 saves)
• 1/3/03: Tor 0 NJD 2, Corey Schwab (17 shots, 17 saves)
• 2/13/89: Tor 1 NJD 8, Sean Burke (15 shots, 14 saves)
• 10/19/84: Tor 1 NJD 4, Chico Resch (21 shots, 20 saves)
• 12/27/84: Tor 1 NJD 4, Chico Resch (30 shots, 29 saves)
Brodeur did have three postseason games against the Maple Leafs in which he allowed one goal or fewer.
The Devils beat the Senators, 2-1, last Tuesday night at Prudential Center. Mike Cammalleri's tiebreaking goal at the 5:02 mark of the third period proved to be the game-winner, Cammalleri's fourth straight game-winning goal in the Devils' last four non-shootout victories.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the four straight game-winners matched the longest single-season streak of its kind in Kansas City/Colorado/New Jersey franchise history.
Elias notes that the only other Scouts, Rockies or Devils player to do that was Colorado's Denis Dupere in 1977-78. The only other NHL player to register the game-winning goal in four straight non-shootout wins by his team this season (excluding all other games) is the Canadiens' Lars Eller.
Schwei's Plus/Minus:
Plus: Cory Schneider -- Despite the loss to Edmonton, Schneider is now 7-2-1 in his last 10 decisions and has a 1.73 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in 11 appearances in 2015.
Minus: No Shot -- The Devils had just 14 shots on goal in the loss to the Oilers, dropping their season average to 23.9 per game. Only the Buffalo Sabres (22.6) have averaged fewer shots on goal per game.
