Schwei's Devils Notes: New Jersey Stays Unbeaten Vs. Wild After Regulation
By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils went 2-0 in their first two games on home ice this past week, but fell to 0-2-1 on the road with a heartbreaking loss in Boston.
Taylor Hall's overtime goal gave New Jersey a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night in Newark.
The Devils have never lost a game against the Wild that was decided after regulation:
• 10/22/16: Min 1 at NJD 2 (OT)
• 3/20/14: Min 3 at NJD 4 (OT)
• 3/13/08: NJD 4 at Min 3 (SO)
• 12/3/05: Min 2 at NJD 3 (SO)
• 2/17/04: Min 4 at NJD 4 (Tie)
• 1/26/02: NJD 2 at Min 2 (Tie)
The last time New Jersey lost to a Minnesota team in overtime was against the North Stars on Nov. 15, 1989, a 2-1 loss at the Meadowlands on a Clark Donatelli goal against Sean Burke.
Former Devil Zach Parise did not get on the scoresheet in New Jersey's win over Minnesota, but the former Devils captain scored his 300th and 301st career goals Sunday night in a 6-3 Wild loss to the Islanders at Barclays Center.
Parise became the ninth player originally drafted by the Devils to score 300 or more goals in his NHL career:
• Brendan Shanahan, drafted in 1987, 656 goals
• Pat Verbeek, 1982, 522
• Bill Guerin, 1989, 429
• John MacLean, 1983, 413
• Patrik Elias, 1994, 408
• Kirk Muller, 1984, 357
• Brian Rolston, 1991, 342
• Petr Sykora, 1995, 323
• Zach Parise, 2003, 301
Hall had four overtime goals in his six seasons with Edmonton, The only other player to score an OT goal for both the Devils and Oilers was Jason Arnott, who had two regular-season overtime goals for Edmonton and one in his two stints with New Jersey.
On Thursday night, Patrice Bergeron's goal with 1:15 left to play in the third period broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win in their home opener against the Devils.
Cory Schneider took the hard-luck loss against the Bruins and now has 34 defeats since joining the Devils in 2013 in games in which he has allowed two or fewer goals, the most in the NHL over that span:
• Cory Schneider, NJD, 34
• Mike Smith, Ari, 27
• Steve Mason, Phi, 22
• Ben Bishop, TB, 21
• Curtis McElhinney, CBJ, 21
• James Reimer, Tor/SJ/Fla, 21
The last time the Devils lost a game to the Bruins on a goal in the last two minutes of regulation was on Jan. 16, 2001, when former Devil Bill Guerin scored the game-winner against Chris Terreri with 1:21 remaining to cap off a 5-4 Boston victory in New Jersey.
Last Tuesday night, the Devils got their first win of the season, 2-1, over the Ducks at Prudential Center.
Hall scored his first two goals for New Jersey in the win. The Elias Sports Bureau noted that over the last 20 years, only five other players scored their first two goals for the Devils in the same game:
• Mike Rupp, 1/13/03, Fla 2 at NJD 6
• Dainius Zubrus, 11/8/07, Phi 1 at NJD 4
• Damien Brunner, 10/4/13, NYI 4 at NJD 3
• Michael Cammalleri, 10/9/14, NJD 6 at Phi 4
• Mike Sislo, 3/17/16, Min 4 at NJD 7
MORE: Lichtenstein: Weight Lifted, Hall Looks Poised To Take Off With Devils
Sylvain Turgeon scored his first three goals for the Devils in his debut with New Jersey on Oct. 5, 1989 in an 8-2 win over the Flyers at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.
Plus/Minus
Plus: Sudden-Victory. After going 1-7 in games decided in overtime during the 2014-15 season, the Devils have now won 10 of their last 13 OT games.
Minus: Eight Isn't Enough. New Jersey has scored just eight goals in their first five games of the season, the fewest in the NHL.
