Schwei's Devils Notes: Losses Pile Up As Playoff Chances Slip Away

By John Schweibacher
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With losses in eight of their last 10 games, the Devils' playoff hopes are all but gone.

Compounding that frustration is the injury to franchise goaltender Cory Schneider, who sustained a grade-1 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee last Friday night against Dallas.

New Jersey scored just four goals in its three losses last week and its total of 146 is the lowest in the NHL. The following is how the Devils have fared based on goals scored in games this season:

· 0 goals: 0-7-0

· 1 goal: 1-16-2

· 2 goals: 6-3-4

· 3 goals: 11-3-1

· 4-plus goals: 13-0-0

The Devils lost to the Penguins, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at Prudential Center. Keith Kinkaid made the start in goal, his second in the Devils' last three games. Kinkaid also came off the bench to replace the injured Schneider in the loss to Dallas.

The last time a Devils' goalie other than Schneider appeared in three consecutive games was back in November 2013 when Martin Brodeur did the trick.

The Devils lost to the Stars, 4-2, on Friday in Dallas. Devante Smith-Pelly, who had a goal and an assist in his Devils' debut in the victory in Nashville, scored his second goal for New Jersey. Smith-Pelly joined Bob Brooke (1990) and Doug Gilmour (1997) as the only players to score goals in their first two games with New Jersey after being acquired during the season.

Here is the list of players who scored a goal in their first game with New Jersey after being acquired or re-acquired during a season:

· 3/3/16; Devante Smith-Pelly at NSH (1G, 1A)

· 10/31/15; Bobby Farnham vs. NYI (1G, 1A)

· 2/15/13; Alexei Ponikarovsky vs. Phi (1G)

· 1/21/12; Alexei Ponikarovsky vs. Phi (1G)

· 3/11/00; Deron Quint at Was (1G)

· 3/23/99; Sergei Nemchinov vs. Buf (1G)

· 2/26/97; Doug Gilmour at NYI (1G, 3A)

· 3/15/96; Dave Andreychuk vs. TB (1G, 1A)

· 3/16/95; Shawn Chambers vs. Har (1G)

· 1/15/92; Troy Mallette vs. Buf (1G, 1A)

· 1/8/90; Bob Brooke vs. Wpg (1G)

· 1/14/84; Tim Higgins at Mtl (1G)

· 10/16/82; Rick Meagher at Pit (1G, 1A)

The Devils rallied to beat the Predators, 5-4, in Nashville last Thursday night thanks to Adam Henrique, who tied the game with 39.7 seconds left to play in the third period and won it in overtime.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Henrique is the fourth player in Devils history to score a tying goal in the final minute of the third period and then score the overtime winner in the same game:

· 3/3/16; Adam Henrique, NJD 5 at Nsh 4 (OT)

· 1/30/09; Jamie Langenbrunner, Pit 3 at NJD 4 (OT)

· 1/22/03; Joe Nieuwendyk, NJD 5 at SJ 4 (OT)

· 11/9/01; Patrik Elias, NJD 3 at Tor 2 (OT)

Kinkaid got the win in goal against Nashville despite allowing four goals. It was the most goals allowed by Kinkaid in any of his 11 career victories. Here are the career win totals for Devils goalies in games that they allowed at least four goals:

· Martin Brodeur (32)

· Alain Chevrier (16)

· Chris Terreri (15)

· Sean Burke (13)

· Craig Billington (12)

· Chico Resch (10)

· Scott Clemmensen (4)

· Ron Low (3)

· Bob Sauve (3)

· Johan Hedberg (2)

· Cory Schneider (2)

· Kirk McLean (1)

· Keith Kinkaid (1)

The Devils lost to the Hurricanes, 3-1, last Tuesday night at Prudential Center. Derek Ryan, making his NHL debut at age 29, scored the first goal for Carolina in the win. According to player game finder at hockey-reference.net, Ryan became the 15th since the 1987-88 season to score a goal in his NHL debut against the Devils.

· 3/1/16; Derek Ryan (Car)

· 3/19/13;  Chris Terry (Car)

· 1/2/09; Max Pacioretty (Mtl)

· 2/2/08; Brian Boyle (LA)

· 10/18/06; Evgeni Malkin (Pit)

· 1/17/03; Jeff Heerema (Car)

· 1/6/00; Denis Hamel (Buf)

· 11/29/95; Landon Wilson (Col)

· 5/3/95; Wayne Primeau (Buf)

· 5/3/95; Curtis Brown (Buf)

· 10/4/90; Sergei Fedorov (Det)

· 1/17/89; Darin Kimble (Que)

· 3/5/88; Bob Joyce (Bos)

· 12/28/87; Todd McLellan (NYI)

· 10/21/87 Rob Brown (Pit)

Plus/Minus

Plus: Working Overtime. The Devils' win in Nashville improved their record to 8-1 in games decided in overtime this season.

Minus: Losing Schneider. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Only Braden Holtby (127) and Johnathan Quick (126) have played more games than Schneider (124) among NHL goalies since the start of last season.