Schwei's Devils Notes: Wedgewood Plugs Leaks Left By Schneider's Injury

By John Schweibacher
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If the Devils do come up short of the postseason, it likely won't be Scott Wedgewood's fault.

New Jersey entered play Tuesday seven points behind Philadelphia and Detroit in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with six games remaining.

Rookie Wedgewood has done his part to keep the Devils in it, going 2-1-1 in his four starts with a .957 save percentage, stopping 111 of the 116 shots.

Wedgewood suffered his first NHL loss on Saturday, making 20 saves in a 3-2 defeat at Carolina. Only Sean Burke, who was 3-0 in his first five appearances for New Jersey in 1988, played more games as a rookie with the Devils before losing for the first time.

With the loss to Carolina, New Jersey fell to 5-4-1 in the 10 games since goalie Cory Schneider went down with a sprained MCL. Keith Kinkaid went 3-2 in six appearances in the Devils' first six games without Schneider, but allowed 20 goals on 158 shots (.873 save percentage). Prior to Schneider's injury, Kinkaid had given up 19 goals in his previous 10 outings, going 4-2-1.

New Jersey lost to Washington, 1-0, in overtime Friday night at Prudential Center, falling to 9-2 in games decided in OT. Wedgewood suffered the loss as his bid for a second consecutive shutout was spoiled by Caps defenseman John Carlson.

The overtime goal ended Wedgewood's shutout streak at 159 minutes, 34 seconds, the second-longest scoreless stretch by a rookie goaltender in Devils history, behind Martin Brodeur's 164:18 streak from March 7-17, 1994.

The defeat was also just the Devils' sixth regular season overtime loss to the Capitals in club history:

· 3/25/16; Was 1 -0 (John Carlson)

· 3/26/15; Was 3-2 (Evgeny Kuznetsov)

· 1/14/00; Was 3-2 (Adam Oates)

· 4/12/92; Was 4-3 (Peter Bondra)

· 3/7/92; Was 3-2 (Dale Hunter)

· 4/5/87; Was 6-5 (Lou Franceschetti)

Things ended on a much happier note for Wedgewood and the Devils on Thursday, as the rookie goalie made 39 saves in a 3-0 victory against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Wedgewood became the first rookie to record a shutout for New Jersey since April 6, 1997, when Mike Dunham blanked the Blues in St. Louis, 2-0. Here are the 11 shutouts by rookie goaltenders in Devils history:

· 3/25/16; Scott Wedgewood, 3-0 at Pitt, 39 saves (Game 3 of his career)

· 4/26/97; Mike Dunham, 2-0 at StL, 25 saves (25)

· 12/16/96; Mike Dunham, 5-0 at Cgy, 28 saves (10)

· 3/13/94; Martin Brodeur, 4-0 vs. Dal, 28 saves (40)

· 1/19/94; Martin Brodeur, 4-0 at Wpg, 32 saves (27)

· 10/20/93; Martin Brodeur, 4-0 vs. Ana, 17 saves (7)

· 3/5/89; Sean Burke, 2-0 vs. Min, 30 saves (66)

· 1/15/89; Sean Burke, 1-0 vs. Edm, 26 saves (48)

· 10/10/88; Sean Burke, 5-0 at NYR, 41 saves (16)

· 3/29/88; Sean Burke, 4-0 vs. Pitt, 25 saves (10)

· 10/27/87; Sam St. Laurent, 4-0 vs. Phi, 26 saves (2)

Kyle Palmieri had two goals in the win over Pittsburgh. Palmieri, who leads the Devils with 29 goals, is one of now nine newcomers that has scored for New Jersey this season.

Here is the updated list of the goals scored by the players acquired by Ray Shero since last May, when he was named the general manager:

· Kyle Palmieri, 29

· Lee Stempniak, 16*

· Bobby Farnham, 8

· Devante Smith-Pelly, 7

· Sergei Kalinin, 6

· David Schlemko, 6

· John Moore, 4

· Tyler Kennedy, 3

· Jiri Tlusty, 2

(* Traded to Boston 2/29)

Plus/Minus

Plus: Blake Pietila. Devils rookie recorded the first point of his NHL career with the primary assist on Travis Zajac's goal Sunday in the loss to the Hurricanes.

Minus: Shut Out. New Jersey's shutout loss to Washington was their fifth on home ice this season, the most in franchise history.