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

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils begin December with just one win in their last seven games, going 1-4-2 to close out November.

The Devils lost to the Islanders, 3-1, Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum to fall 12 points behind the Isles, who ended the month tied with Pittsburgh atop the Metropolitan Division with 34 points.

The last time the Devils were as many as a dozen points behind the Islanders after a head-to-head meeting was back on March 14, 1987.

New Jersey lost to the Islanders, 7-6, in Uniondale that night, blowing a 6-2 lead after two periods before losing in overtime on a Pat LaFontaine goal. The loss left the last-place Devils 16 points in back of the Islanders in the Wales Conference basement.

The Devils lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4, in the shootout last Friday night at Prudential Center.

It was the sixth time in 61 regular-season meetings that a Devils-Red Wings game was decided in either overtime or the shootout:

• 11/28/14: Detroit 5 at NJD 4 (SO), Nyquist SO winner

• 12/05/09: Detroit 3 at NJD 4 (SO), Elias SO winner

• 11/27/02: NJD 2 at Detroit 3 (OT), Draper OT winner

• 11/20/93: Detroit 4 at NJD 3 (OT), Kozlov OT winner

• 1/21/88: Detroit 3 at NJD 2 (OT), Ashton OT winner

• 1/15/86: NJD 4 at Detroit 3 (OT), Higgins OT winner

The Devils dropped the final game of their four-city, Western Canadian road trip, 2-0, last Tuesday night in Vancouver as Ryan Miller made 20 saves in the win for the Canucks.

It was the sixth time in club history that New Jersey was shut out by Vancouver:

• 11/25/14: NJD 0 at Vancouver 2, Ryan Miller (20 saves)

• 11/01/10: NJD 0 at Vancouver 3, Roberto Luongo (30 saves)

• 12/18/07: NJD 0 at Vancouver 5, Roberto Luongo (32 saves)

• 2/05/04: Vancouver 4 at NJD 0, Dan Cloutier (24 saves)

• 11/14/96: Vancouver 3 at NJD 0, Mike Fountain (40 saves)

• 10/19/88: Vancouver 4 at NJD 0, Kirk McLean (28 saves)

Andy Greene appeared in his 500th NHL game Friday night, becoming just the eighth defenseman and 25th player in team history to reach the 500 games-played milestone. Only one of those defensemen, Ken Daneyko, played his entire career with New Jersey.

Here are the defensemen that have appeared in 500 games for the New Jersey Devils:

• Ken Daneyko: 1,283

• Scott Stevens: 956

• Scott Niedermayer: 892

• Colin White: 743

• Bruce Driver: 702

• Brian Rafalski: 541

• Tommy Albelin: 539

• Andy Greene: 501

Martin Brodeur joined the St. Louis Blues last Friday on a tryout basis with the hopes of landing a contract with the club within the next week.

Brodeur has 688 career wins, the most in NHL history. Five of the other goalies in the top 10 on the all-time wins list were, at one time, members of the St. Louis Blues:

Goalie                Career NHL Wins/Wins with St. Louis

• Martin Brodeur                           688 (1st)/ NA

• Curtis Joseph                               454 (4th)/ 137

• Jacques Plante                              437 (6th)/ 36

• Glenn Hall                                     407 (8th)/ 58

• Grant Fuhr                                    403 (9th)/ 108

• Chris Osgood                                401 (10th)/ 35

No goaltender has ever appeared in a game for both the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues. However, there are a few goalies with connections to both franchises.

Longtime Devils goaltending/special-assignment coach Jacques Caron, who is now in his 22nd season with New Jersey, played for the Blues back in 1971-72 and 1972-73.

Michel Plasse, who played for both of the Devils' forerunners, the Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies -- and is perhaps best known for being the first goalie to score a goal in a professional game while playing in the CHL -- appeared in one game for the Blues in 1971.

Peter McDuffe, who appeared in 10 games for St. Louis in the 1971-72 season, spent 36 games with the Kansas City Scouts in 1974-75.

Phil Myre played 439 career NHL games, including 83 for the Blues in 1977-78 and 1978-79 and 34 for the Colorado Rockies in 1980-81 and 1981-82.

Caron, Plasse, McDuffe and Myre all wore sweater No. 30 while with St. Louis. Jordan Binnington, who is currently backing up Jake Allen with the Blues, is wearing No. 30, which of course has been Brodeur's number with New Jersey since 1993.

Other former Blues who wore No. 30 include Jacques Plante, Gary Edwards, Wayne Stephenson, John Davidson, Rick Wamsley, Vincent Riendeau, Jon Casey, Tom Barrasso, Chris Osgood, Jason Bacashihua and Ben Bishop.

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Happy Returns -- Peter Harrold -- in his second game after being called up from Albany -- scored against Detroit, his first NHL goal since March 21, 2013 at Carolina. Damien Brunner, who was a healthy scratch the previous four games, scored his second goal of the season in the loss to the Islanders.

Minus: Blown Leads -- The Devils held a third-period lead against Detroit but lost the game in the shootout, the third time in the last seven games (Colorado and Calgary) New Jersey did not come away with two points while leading in the third.

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