Schwei's Devils Notes: Wedgewood's Debut One For Club History Books

By John Schweibacher
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It may have come too late to help their playoff chances, but thanks to some newcomers the Devils have won two of their last three games.

Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves in his NHL debut on Sunday, leading the Devils to a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jackets in Newark, New Jersey's first victory in five attempts against Columbus this season.

Wedgewood became the first Devils goaltender to win his debut since a 19-year-old Martin Brodeur made 24 saves in a 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins at the Meadowlands on March 26, 1992.

MORE: Lichtenstein: Defense, Not Goalies, To Blame For Devils' Recent Problems

The Elias Sports Bureau notes that the only other goaltenders to win their NHL debut with the Kansas City-Colorado-New Jersey franchise did so 16 days apart in 1985. They are:

· Alain Chevrier; 10/10/85, NJD 6 at Phi 5 (33 saves)

· Craig Billington; 10/26/85, LA 2 at NJD 5 (23 saves)

The Devils lost to the Blue Jackets, 6-3, Saturday night in Columbus, their sixth straight defeat in the series dating to last season. The following are the Devils' longest current losing streaks against opponents:

· Colorado, 6 (0-3-3); Last win: 3/15/12

· Washington 6 (0-4-2); Last win: 11/14/14

· Boston 5 (0-3-2); Last win: 4/13/14

· St. Louis 5 (0-5-0); Last win: 1/21/14

· Anaheim 5 (0-4-1); Last win: 11/12/13

Historically, New Jersey's longest losing streak against an opponent is 14 games against the New York Islanders, from Oct. 28, 1982 through March 20, 1984.

The Devils bounced back from a 7-1 loss to Anaheim with a 7-4 victory over Minnesota last Thursday night at Prudential Center. The last time New Jersey allowed as many as seven goals in one game and then scored at least seven to win the following contest was back on Dec. 9 and 12 1989, when it rebounded from a 7-3 loss at Hartford with a 7-2 road win against the Islanders.

MORE: Lichtenstein: Devils GM Shero Pulled Off A Heist Getting Smith-Pelly

Devante Smith-Pelly, Mike Sislo and Adam Henrique each scored twice for the Devils in the victory over the Wild. According to Elias, it was the first game in which the Devils had three players score two or more goals since Feb. 25, 2004, when Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta and Jay Pandolfo each scored twice in an 8-2 win over Buffalo.

Here are the last seven instances where the Devils had three players score at least two goals in one game:

· 3/17/16; Min 4 at NJD 7 (Smith-Pelly, Sislo, Henrique)

· 2/25/04; Buf 2 at NJD 8 (Eias, Gionta, Pandolfo)

· 3/4/01; TB 0 at NJD 6 (Sykora, Gomez, Arnott)

· 10/30/97; Van 1 at NJD 8 (Elias, Pederson, Sykora)

· 3/19/94; NJD 8 at Bos 6 (Richer, Nicholls, MacLean)

· 10/26/91; SJ 0 at NJD 9 (Lemieux, Chorske, Brown)

· 3/24/88; NJD 8 at Stl 2 (MacLean, Cirella, Broten)

Smith-Pelly's two-goal game was his second this season and first since he was acquired from Montreal at the trade deadline on Feb. 29.

According to the Elias, Smith-Pelly, who scored two goals for the Canadiens against the Rangers on Nov. 25, is the fourth player ever to record a multiple-goal game for the Devils after doing so for another NHL team earlier that season.

Elias also notes that each of the three other players to accomplish the feat scored at least 450 goals in the NHL: Peter Stastny in 1989-90 (Quebec), Dave Andreychuk in 1995-96 (Toronto), and Alexander Mogilny in 1999-2000 (Vancouver).

Sislo's two goals were the first two of his NHL career (coming in his 32nd game). Sislo became the first Devils player to record a multiple-goal game in the first NHL game in which he scored a goal since Mike Rupp scored twice in his debut on Jan. 13, 2003 against Florida.

Plus/Minus

Plus: Going Green. The St. Patrick's Day win over the Wild improved the Devils' record to 3-5-0 in their "retro" red, green and white jerseys since they brought them back for the first time on March 17, 2010 against Pittsburgh.

Minus: Metro Blues. New Jersey is 10-15-2 vs. Metropolitan Division opponents this season, while going 25-16-5 against the other three divisions combined.