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

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils have not had a lot to celebrate this season, but Patrik Elias had a memorable week, reaching a milestone and being selected to his fourth All-Star Game.

Elias had a goal and two assists in the Devils' 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres last Tuesday night in Newark, giving him 600 assists and 1,000 points for his career.

With one more goal, Elias will become just the ninth player in NHL history to reach the 400-goal, 600-assist and 1,000-point plateaus while playing for just one team their entire careers:

Player                   Team                 Games               Goals             Assists         Points

- Steve Yzerman   Det                   1514                    692                 1063             1755

- Mario Lemieux   Pit                    915                     690                 1033             1723

- Stan Mikita         Chi                    1394                  541                  926               1467

- Gil Perreault      Buf                     1191                   512                  814                1326

- Alex Delvecchio Det                    1549                  456                  825               1281

- Jean Beliveau     Mtl                    1125                   507                  712                1219

- Dave Taylor        LA                     1111                     431                 638                1069

- Rod Gilbert       NYR                   1065                    406                 615                1021

- Patrik Elias       NJD                   1189                     399                 602                1001

The Devils lost to the Islanders, 3-2, in overtime Friday night at Prudential Center.

John Tavares scored twice and had an assist for the Isles in the win. Tavares recorded his first goal with 6:13 remaining in the third period to tie the score at two. His second goal, at the 3:05 mark of overtime, gave the Islanders the victory.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tavares is the fourth player in Islanders history to score a regular-season overtime goal after scoring the final goal of the third period in that game. And like Tavares, they each did so against the Devils in a 3-2 Isles win:

- 2/2/86: NJD 2 at NYI 3, Mike Bossy (0:51 3P, 3:28 OT)

- 3/11/89: NJD 2 at NYI 3, Pat LaFontaine (11:38 3P, 1:04 OT)

- 2/28/92: NYI 3 at NJD 2, Steve Thomas (1:46 3P, 3:48 OT)

- 1/9/15: NYI 3 at NJD 2, John Tavares (13:47 3P, 3:05 OT)

Niklas Svedberg made 14 saves in the Bruins' 3-0 victory over the Devils last Thursday night in Boston. It was just the fifth time in club history that New Jersey was shut out on the road by the Bruins:

- 1/8/15: NJD 0 at Bos 3, Niklas Svedberg (14 saves)

- 4/4/13: NJD 0 at Bos 1, Tuukka Rask (40 saves)

- 11/15/10: NJD 0 at Bos 3, Tim Thomas (28 saves)

- 1/26/95: NJD 0 at Bos 1 (OT), Blaine Lacher (33 saves)

- 11/9/91: NJD 0 at Bos 4, Andy Moog (33 saves)

Svedberg's 14 saves tied the second-fewest made by a goaltender in a shutout against the Devils:

- 2/27/12: NJD 0 at NYR 2, Henrik Lundqvist (13 saves)

- 1/8/15: NJD 0 at Bos 3, Niklas Svedberg (14 saves)

- 11/2/13: Phi 1 at NJD 0, Ray Emery (14 saves)

- 2/2/84: Was 2 at NJD 0, Pat Riggin (14 saves)

- 1/19/84: NJD 0 at Phi  2, Bob Froese (15 saves)

- 2/20/83: NJD 0 at Phi  3, Bob Froese (16 saves)

- 11/24/82: NJD 0 at LA 3, Mario Lessard (16 saves)

Mark Fraser registered an assist on Travis Zajac's goal in the win against Buffalo for his first point as a Devil since January 17, 2011 at the New York Islanders.

Fraser is the 26th player in Devils history to be re-acquired and see action with the team, but just the sixth defenseman to return to New Jersey after playing for at least one other NHL club.

Here are the point totals for those defensemen in their first and second stints with the Devils:

1st Devils stint /2nd Devils stint

Games G A Pts. /Games G A Pts.

- Tommy Albelin       379  24 107 131 /160  3  18  21

- Ken Sutton              13   0     0     0 /  64  2    9   11

- Vladimir Malakhov 17  1  4     5 /   29  4    5    9

- Jay Leach                 24   0     1    1 /     7   0    0    0

- Anssi Salmela          17   0     3    3 /   48   1    6    7

- Mark Fraser            98   3     5    8 /     4    0    1    1

Fraser has also brought some toughness to the Devils' game, taking three fighting majors since being called up from Albany.

New Jersey has had nine fighting majors in their eight games since the coaching change, after having been involved in just seven over the first 36 games this season.

According to hockeyfights.com, the Devils had just 10 fights during the 2013-14 season.

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Jordin Tootoo -- Has brought toughness (four fights over last seven games), but also scored his third goal of the season in the win against Buffalo, matching his goal total over the last two seasons with Detroit.

Minus: Two and Done -- Devils' loss to Boston ended their modest winning streak at two. New Jersey had just one three-game winning streak over its last 104 games -- the three straight games they won to open this season.

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