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

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils close out a disappointing 2014-15 season this week with their final home game of the year Tuesday night against the Rangers, and road games Thursday and Saturday vs. the Lightning and Panthers, respectively.

The Devils lost to the Rangers, 6-1, Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers' five-goal margin of victory equaled their fifth largest in a regular-season game against the Devils:

•       3/25/84: Rangers 11 at Devils 2

•       3/31/96: Devils 0 at Rangers 9

•       12/16/87: Devils 3 at Rangers 9

•       3/2/92: Rangers 7 at Devils 1

•       10/14/92: Devils 1 at Rangers 6

•       12/26/93: Devils 3 at Rangers 8

•       10/30/96: Rangers 6 at Devils 1

•       4/4/15: Devils 1 at Rangers 6

The loss was Cory Schneider's 29th of the season, the second-most in the NHL this season. Schneider is in danger of becoming the fifth goalie (and seventh overall) in franchise history to lose 30 or more games (not counting overtime or shootout losses which have still given the losing team a point) in a single season:

•       Denis Herron: KC, 1975-76: 39

•       Chico Resch: NJD, 1982-83: 35

•       Sean Burke: NJD, 1988-89: 31

•       Chico Resch: Col, 1981-82: 31

•       Chico Resch: NJD, 1982-83: 31

•       Martin Brodeur: NJD, 1995-96: 30

•       Michel Plasse: Col, 1976-77: 29

•       Michel Plasse: Col, 1978-79: 29

•       Cory Schneider: NJD, 2014-15: 29

The Devils beat the Canadiens, 3-2, in the shootout last Friday night at Prudential Center, ending their season-worst six-game losing streak.

Rookie Keith Kinkaid made 31 saves during regulation time and overtime, and did not allow a goal in the shootout to give New Jersey the win.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kinkaid is only the second Devils rookie to record a victory against the Canadiens, joining Martin Brodeur. The Montreal native beat the Canadiens twice during his first full season in 1993-94.

Brodeur and the Devils defeated the Canadiens, 4-2, on December 8, 1993 at the Forum in Montreal and 5-2 at the Meadowlands on March 29, 1994. Both victories came against Patrick Roy.

Kinkaid is the 10th Devils goalie other than Brodeur to defeat the Canadiens:

NJD Goalie                                       Wins vs. Mtl

•       Martin Brodeur                                                  45

•       Chris Terreri                                                         4

•       Chico Resch                                                          3

•       Scott Clemmensen                                               3

•       Alain Chevrier                                                       2

•       Ron Low                                                                 1

•       Bob Sauve                                                              1

•       Craig Billington                                                    1

•       Sean Burke                                                             1

•       Johan Hedberg                                                      1

•       Keith Kinkaid                                                         1

New Jersey's shootout with Montreal was just the second ever between the two teams. The Canadiens won the only previous shootout, 4-3, in Newark last season on December 4, 2013.

The win was just the fifth for New Jersey in 18 regular-season games against Montreal that were not decided in regulation. They'v lost five times and eight have ended in ties:

•       4/3/15: Mtl 2 at NJD 3 (SO), Jacob Josefson shootout winner

•       1/9/10: NJD 2 at Mtl 1 (OT), Zach Parise overtime winner

•       12/6/08: NJD 2 at Mtl 1 (OT), Zach Parise overtime winner

•       12/6/06: Mtl 1 at NJD 2 (OT), Patrick Elias overtime winner

•       10/23/97: Mtl 1 at NJD 2 (OT), Petr Sykora overtime winner

The Devils lost to the Blue Jackets, 3-2, in overtime last Tuesday night in Columbus. New Jersey is now 11-5-4 all-time against the Blue Jackets but has won just once against Columbus in a game that was not decided in regulation:

•       3/31/15: NJD 2 at CBJ 3 (OT), Jack Johnson overtime winner

•       12/27/13: CBJ 2 at NJD 1 (SO), Cam Atkinson shootout winner

•       11/23/11: CBJ 1 at NJD 2 (SO), Ilya Kovalchuk shootout winner

•       12/11/05: NJD 2 at CBJ 3 (OT), Bryan Berard overtime winner

•       12/27/00: CBJ 2 at NJD 2 (OT), Jason Arnott game-tying goal

Credit the Devils' telecast on MSG Plus for this list. It's the most points scored by Devils players since Scott Gomez officially signed with New Jersey back on December 1:

NJD Player                 Games              G              A           Pts

• Scott Gomez        55                    7              24           31

• Adam Henrique  55                  10              17            27

• Mike Cammalleri 47                 17               9             26

• Steve Bernier        51                  12              13            25

• Patrick Elias         42                  9               12             21

• Adam Larsson      45                   2              18             20

Schwei's Plus/Minus:

Plus: Firsts -- Reid Boucher and Stefan Matteau both scored their first goals of the season in the shootout victory over Montreal.

Minus: Last -- New Jersey has had 206 power-play opportunities this season, the fewest in the NHL.