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Schwei's Devils Notes: A Winning Streak Then A Losing Streak

By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils began their four-game western road swing by extending their longest winning streak in over three years with a win in Dallas, but the trip ended with their longest losing streak of the season, as they dropped all three of their games in California.

The Devils lost to the Sharks, 4-0, Monday night in San Jose. Combined with their losses in Anaheim and Los Angeles, it marked the first time in 10 years that the Devils were swept by the three California teams on the same road trip.

On Nov. 24, 25 and 27 in 2006, New Jersey lost 4-2 in Anaheim, 2-0 at San Jose and 3-2 in a shootout in Los Angeles under then-head coach Claude Julien.

Prior to Monday night, when Martin Jones stopped all 26 New Jersey shots, the only other time the Devils were shut out by the Sharks was on that 2006-07 trip when Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves in the 2-0 San Jose win.

Monday night's game was New Jersey's first in their now 18 games played this season that ended in a shutout for either team. It is the deepest into a season the Devils have gone without winning or losing a shutout since 2005-06, when New Jersey lost 1-0 to Michael Garnett and the Atlanta Thrashers on Dec. 23, in their 35th game of the year.

The Devils dropped their second straight game, 4-2, Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. It marked the first time this season that New Jersey lost consecutive games in regulation.

John Moore scored his third goal of the season to open the scoring at 3:38 of the first period. It was the fifth straight game that the Devils had at least one goal scored by a defenseman.

The last time New Jersey had five consecutive games in which at least one defenseman scored was almost 23 years ago, from Jan. 12 through Jan. 24, 1994.

The Devils' five-game winning streak came to an end with a 3-2 loss Thursday night in Anaheim. Kyle Quincey's goal late in the second period gave New Jersey a 2-0 lead, but the Ducks rallied for the win.

The Devils are 14-1-1 all-time when they score three goals or more against Anaheim, but are now just 3-12-1 all-time vs. the Ducks when scoring two goals or fewer.

The Devils beat the Stars, 2-1, in overtime Tuesday night in Dallas. Adam Henrique's game-winner gave New Jersey its fifth consecutive win and its third straight over Dallas in games decided in overtime.

The Stars had won or tied (prior to the introduction of the shootout) each of the first seven regular-season games against the Devils that were decided in overtime in franchise history:

• 11/15/16: Devils 2 at Stars 1 (Adam Henrique)
• 1/2/16: Stars 2 at Devils 3 (John Moore)
• 1/30/14: Devils 3 at Stars 2 (Patrik Elias)
• 10/8/10: Stars 4 at Devils 3 (Loui Eriksson)
• 10/22/99: Devils 1 at Stars 2 (Sergei Zubov)
• 1/5/98: Stars 4 at Devils 3 (Jere Lehtinen)
• 11/15/89: North Stars 2 at Devils 1 (Clark Donatelli)
• 1/28/89: Devils 4 at North Stars 4 (Tie)
• 11/23/84: Devils 4 at North Stars 5 (Craig Hartsburg)
• 11/2/84: Devils 2 at North Stars 2 (Tie)

The Devils' five-game winning streak was its longest since they won five games in a row in February 2013. The Elias Sports Bureau noted that Henrique, Andy Greene, Jacob Josefson and Travis Zajac are the only Devils who played for the club during both of those streaks.

PLUS/MINUS

Plus: Still Going Greene. Greene, the Devils' captain, played in his 329th consecutive game Monday night, passing Sergei Brylin for the third-longest games-played stretch in Devils history.

Minus: Not-So-Special Teams. New Jersey surrendered a short-handed goal for the first time this season in the loss to San Jose. The Devils also went 0-for-3 on the power play vs. the Sharks and are now 0-for-29 over their last nine games.

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