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Schwei's Devils Notebook: Schneider Shines While Playoff Hopes Dim

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils' slim playoff hopes dimmed with losses to Calgary and Boston last week, but Cory Schneider continues to shine in goal, having gone 11-5-2 with two shutouts, a 1.69 goals-against average and .944 save-percentage in 20 appearances in 2015.

Schneider earned his second shutout in six days with a 2-0 win in Columbus on Saturday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Schneider, who also blanked the Coyotes in Newark last Monday, is the first Devils goaltender other than Martin Brodeur to register a pair of shutouts less than seven days apart since Johan Hedberg had two 1-0 victories over five days back in 2011 (February 18 vs. the Rangers and Feb. 22 at Dallas).

Schneider stopped all 38 shots on goal by Arizona as he recorded the first of his two shutouts, 3-0, last week for New Jersey. According to the player game finder at hockey-reference.com it was the sixth time a Devils goalie made at least 38 saves in a regular-season shutout, but the first time it happened in a game on home ice:

· 2/23/15 Cory Schneider, Arz 0 vs. NJD 3 (38 saves)

· 1/12/10 Martin Brodeur, NJD 1 at NYR 0 (51 saves)

· 12/15/01 Martin Brodeur, NJD 2 at Ott 0 (39 saves)

· 1/28/99 Martin Brodeur, NJD 2 at Bos 0 (40 saves)

· 10/10/88 Sean Burke, NJD 5 at NYR 0 (41 saves)

· 12/17/83 Chico Resch, NJD 2 at Min 0 (42 saves)

Prior to Schneider, the most saves by a Devils goalie in a shutout in a regular season home game was 37, by Martin Brodeur in a 0-0 tie against Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres at the Meadowlands on December 23, 1996.

Schneider joined Brodeur as the only Devils goalie to post shutouts against the Coyotes and Blue Jackets. Brodeur had four career shutouts in 22 career games against Winnipeg/Phoenix/Arizona and two in his 13 appearances all-time vs. Columbus.

Credit Devils radio play-by-play man Matt Loughlin for this stat: Cory Schneider has now started 97 games in his two seasons with New Jersey. The Devils have scored two or fewer goals in 67 of those games, three or fewer in 81. Additionally, Schneider has allowed three goals or fewer in 85 of those 97 starts for New Jersey, two or fewer in 63.

Andy Greene scored his second goal of the season, his second in the last five games and it held up as the game-winner in the 2-0 victory Saturday in Columbus.

Greene has just 30 career goals but 10 of them have been game-winners for New Jersey. Only three defensemen in club history have scored more game-winners than Greene:

· Scott Niedermayer 26

· Scott Stevens 19

· Brian Rafalski 13

· Andy Greene 10

The Devils lost to the Bruins, 3-2, in overtime Friday night at Prudential Center. Ryan Spooner's first NHL goal was the overtime winner for Boston and it was the sixth regular-season sudden-death winner for the Bruins against New Jersey:

· 2/27/15 Bos 3 at NJD 2, Ryan Spooner

· 3/1/12 NJD 3 at Bos 4, David Krejci

· 3/30/10 Bos 1 at NJD 0, Patrice Bergeron

· 11/15/01 NJD 4 at Bos 5, Joe Thornton

· 1/27/01 NJD 3 at Bos 4, Sergei Samsonov

· 1/26/95 NJD 0 at Bos 1, Adam Oates

The Devils traded Jaromir Jagr to the Florida Panthers on Thursday for a second-round pick in June and either Florida or Minnesota's third-round pick in 2016.

Jagr played 139 games for New Jersey, scoring 35 goals and 61 assists in his Devils stint. Jagr's 35 goals equal Bobby Carpenter's total on the club's all-time list and are one fewer than Ken Daneyko scored in his Devils' career.

The only two players in Devils history that scored more points in fewer regular season games for New Jersey than Jagr were Tom Kurvers (21 goals, 79 assists 100 points in 131 games) and Alexander Mogilny (58 goals, 56 assists 114 points in 121 games).

New Jersey lost to Calgary, 3-1, last Wednesday night in Newark. The loss ended the Devils' season high four game winning streak. New Jersey's last five-game win streak came back on February 3-10, 2013.

Mike Cammalleri scored his team-leading 23rd goal of the season in the loss to the Flames. Credit MSG+ for this list, the players with the most goals scored with a new team in 2014-15 excluding rookies:

· Mike Cammalleri, NJD, 23
· Radim Vrbata, Van, 22
· James Neal, Nsh, 21
· Patric Hornqvist, Pit, 19
· Jarome Iginla, Col, 19
(Through March 1)

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Jordin Tootoo. Devils RW scored game-tying goal vs. Bruins to set a career-best point streak of five straight games (two goals, three assists).

Minus: Nine Out. New Jersey reached the end of February nine points out of a playoff spot. The Devils were three points out of a postseason spot exactly one year ago and were also nine out heading into March in 2011, the last two times they missed the playoffs in a full 82-game season.

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