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Schwei's Devils Notes: Severson Joins Exclusive Company In Franchise History

By John Schweibacher
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The Devils ended their season-high six-game losing streak with their first win of 2018, a 4-1 victory over the Islanders on Tuesday in Brooklyn.

Damon Severson scored two goals in the win, New Jersey's first since Dec. 27 against Detroit.

It marked just the third time in club history that a Devils defenseman had a multi-goal game against the Islanders. Uli Hiemer (who is also the only Devils defenseman to ever have a hat trick) scored twice in a 9-7 win over the Isles at the Meadowlands back on April 6, 1986, and Tom Kurvers netted a pair in a 6-5 win at New Jersey on Dec. 9, 1988.

Devils D Damon Severson
The Devils' Damon Severson skates with the puck against the Penguins at PPG PAINTS Arena in Pittsburgh on Dec. 23, 2016. (Photo by Matt Kincaid/Getty Images)

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Severson also set a Devils franchise record for the fastest two goals by a defenseman (1:26), besting the mark of 2:07 set by Johnny Oduya on March 28, 2008, in a 5-4 win over visiting Philadelphia.

The fastest two goals ever by a Devils forward were scored by Jeff Friesen, 26 seconds apart during a 6-2 victory over visiting Florida on Jan. 13, 2003.

Elias also notes that Severson's goals on Tuesday were the fastest pair in one game by an NHL defenseman since the Flyers' Ivan Provorov scored twice in 31 seconds against Chicago on Dec. 3, 2016.

Devils captain Andy Greene and the Islanders' Brock Nelson tussled briefly in front of the New Jersey net as time expired in the first period. It was the first NHL fight for each player.

According to hockeyfights.com, now that Greene has his first fighting major in 749 career games, the player with the most games without a fight in team history is Bruce Driver, who played in 702.

The Devils' losing streak reached six games (0-3-3) with a 5-3 defeat to the Flyers on Saturday in Newark.

Sean Couturier scored two goals for the third straight game for Philadelphia.

According to Elias, Couturier became the first NHL player to score at least two goals in three consecutive team games since Alex Galchenyuk produced three straight multi-goal games for Montreal in March 2016.

The last Devils player to have three straight two-goal games was Jamie Langenbrunner, who did so between Jan. 7 and Jan. 30 of 2010.

Brian Elliott made 26 saves as Philadelphia won in New Jersey for the first time since Feb. 16, 2016. Elliott has now won games against the Devils as a member of four different NHL clubs. The following goalies have done the trick for at least four teams:

-- Elliott (Phi, Cgy, Stl & Ott)
-- Ed Belfour (Fla, Tor, Dal & Chi)
-- Mike Vernon (Fla, SJ, Det & Cgy)
-- Jeff Hackett (Bos, Mtl, Chi, SJ & NYI)
-- Curtis Joseph (Phx, Det, Tor & Stl)
-- Grant Fuhr (Stl, Buf, Tor & Edm)
-- Garth Snow (NYI, Pit, Van, Phi & Que)
-- Arturs Irbe (Car, Van, Dal & SJ)
-- Jose Theodore (Fla, Min, Was & Mtl)
-- Al Montoya (Mtl, Fla, Wpg & NYI)
-- J.S. Giguere (Col, Tor, Ana & Cgy)

Plus/Minus:

Plus: Hall Star. Taylor Hall was selected to represent the Metropolitan Division at the NHL All-Star Game. Hall is the first Devils forward to be selected to consecutive midseason classics since Bobby Holik in 1998 and '99.

Minus: Goals Against. New Jersey surrendered at least three goals in each game during its six-game slide. It followed a stretch of 13 total goals allowed in the previous seven games.

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