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Schwei's Devils Notes: Another Strong Schneider Outing Wasted And More

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils came up short in their quest to make the playoffs for the first time in four years as they were eliminated from postseason contention Saturday before they took the ice that night against Tampa Bay.

Cory Schneider made his return against the Lightning, making 33 saves in his first start in goal since March 4 at Dallas (12 games) but fell to 26-24-6 on the season with the 3-1 defeat.

Schneider allowed two goals in the loss, the 39th time this season and 80th over the last two that he has given up two or fewer in a game, the third most by any NHL goaltender over that span. Unfortunately for Schneider, he has lost 24 of those games, the most in the league since the start of last season.

Goalies with games with two or fewer goals against and their records in those games:

  • Braden Holtby (Was), 85, 72-8-5
  • Jonathan Quick (LA), 85, 62-13-10
  • Cory Schneider (NJD), 80, 45-24-9   (2 ND)
  • Tukka Rask (Bos), 79, 53-14-10 (2 ND)
  • Ben Bishop (TB), 78, 58-12-6 (2 ND)
  • Pekka Rinne (Nas), 77, 63-8-6
  • Corey Crawford (Chi), 73, 57-11-5
  • Devan Dubnyk (Arz/Min), 71, 56-8-4 (3 ND)
  • Roberto Luongo (Fla), 70, 49-11-9 (1 ND)
  • Marc-Andre Fleury (Pit), 67, 52-9-6
    (Totals through games on April 4)

The Devils lost to the Panthers, 3-2, last Thursday night in Florida. Al Montoya made 23 saves for the Panthers in the win, his second over the Devils this season and his third straight overall against New Jersey.

Montoya was drafted by the Rangers with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Schneider went 26th overall to Vancouver that same year.

Here are the eight goalies selected in the 2004 draft that have played at least 80 NHL games:

  • Pekka Rinne, Nashville (258th selection), 445 games, 236-136-53 record, .917 save percentage, 2.37 GAA
  • Devan Dubnyk, Edmonton (14th), 295 games, 129-116-32, .915,  2.61
  • Cory Schneider, Vancouver (26th), 268 games, 123-96-35,   .925,  2.17
  • Karri Ramo, Tampa Bay (191st), 158, 60-63-18, .906, 2.85
  • Al Montoya, N.Y. Rangers (6th),  134,  54-39-18, .910,  2.59
  • Thomas Greiss, San Jose (94th), 128, 58-41-15,  .917,  2.44
  • Anton Khudobin, Minnesota (206th), 99, 44-39-8, .918,  2.42
  • Justin Peters, Carolina (38th), 80, 25-37-9, .901, 3.08
    (Totals through games of 4/4/16).

Keith Kinkaid made the most of his first start in goal since March 19, stopping all but one of the Bruins' 40 shots on goal in the Devils' 2-1 victory in Newark last Tuesday.

The Elias Sports Bureau notes that the only other goaltender in Devils franchise history to win a regular-season home game in which he faced at least 40 shots on goal and allowed no more than one goal was Johan Hedberg, in a 2-1 shootout victory against the Flyers on Nov. 27, 2010, after making 40 saves in regulation time and overtime.

Here are the last 10 times overall in which a Devils goalie won a game when he allowed one goal or fewer and faced at least 40 shots:

  • 3/31/16, Keith Kinkaid, Bos 1 at NJD 2, 39 saves
  • 12/8/14, Cory Schneider, NJD 2 at Car 1, 39 saves
  • 1/7/12, Martin Brodeur, NJD 3 at Pit 1, 41 saves
  • 11/27/10, Johan Hedberg, Phi 1 at NJD 2 (SO), 40 saves
  • 1/12/10, Martin Brodeur, NJD 1 at NYR 0 (SO), 51 saves
  • 3/8/08, Martin Brodeur, NJD 2 at Tor 1, 42 saves
  • 3/4/08, Martin Brodeur, NJD 4 at Tor 1, 41 saves
  • 1/28/99, Martin Brodeur, NJD 2 at Bos 0, 40 saves
  • 10/14/95, Martin Brodeur, NJD 4 at Mtl 1, 41 saves
  • 10/10/88, Sean Burke,  NJD 5 at NYR 0, 41 saves

Ex-Devils head coach Claude Julien was on the losing end with the Bruins last Tuesday night, but last month he became Boston's all-time winningest coach, surpassing Art Ross for the most in club history. Julien has the most regular-season wins by any former Devils head coach after leaving New Jersey:

  • Claude Julien, 392-222-87
  • Jacques Lemaire, 293-255-108
  • Jim Schoenfeld, 187-168-58
  • Brent Sutter, 118-90-38
  • Robbie Ftorek, 76-52-27
  • Pete DeBoer, 44-29-6
  • Doug Carpenter, 39-47-5
  • Herb Brooks, 29-21-7
    (Active coaches totals through games of 4/4/16)

Plus/Minus:

Plus: Better Late than Never. Patrik Elias, who has not played since Dec. 19, is getting closer to returning from his Jan. 12 arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. The Devils' all-time leading scorer could play when the team returns home to host Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Minus: Elimination. New Jersey has now missed the playoffs in four consecutive seasons and five of its last six. It's the Devils' worst postseason drought since their first five seasons after moving from Colorado to New Jersey (1982-83 through 1986-87).

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