Schwei's Devils Notes: No Gifts Under New Jersey's Tree

By John Schweibacher
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The NHL's Christmas break cannot come soon enough for the Devils.

New Jersey has dropped six straight games, the club's longest losing streak since late in the 2014-15 season.

The Devils fell to 12-12-7, including 4-11-5 on the road, with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Rangers Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.

MORE: Lichtenstein: As Devils Continue To Falter, Will Hynes Take The Fall?

New Jersey led 2-1, but New York tied the game with 1:13 left in regulation when Derek Stepan beat Cory Schneider with a redirection after the Rangers pulled Henrik Lundqvist for an extra attacker.

MORE: Hartnett: Stepan's Game Is About A Lot More Than Primary Stats

The only other time the Devils lost a game to the Rangers in the same fashion was back on March 25, 2010, when New York's Chris Drury tied things up with 17 seconds left in an eventual 4-3 shootout win at Prudential Center.

Damon Severson was the fourth shooter in the shootout Sunday night, but failed to score to keep the game going. It was the eighth time since the shootout was introduced during the 2005-06 season that a Devils defenseman took a shootout attempt and the eighth time they did not score:

-- 2/15/08 vs. Atlanta, Karel Rachunek (miss in 8th round of 4-3 loss)

-- 1/29/13 at Boston, Marek Zidlicky (miss in 6th round of 2-1 loss)

-- 4/1/14 at Buffalo, Marek Zidlicky (miss in 3rd round of 3-2 loss)

-- 4/10/14 at Ottawa, Adam Larsson (miss in 2nd round of 2-1 loss)

-- 12/15/14 at Islanders, Damon Severson (miss in 3rd round of 3-2 loss)

-- 12/15/14 at Islanders, Marek Zidlicky (miss in 4th round of 3-2 loss)

-- 12/8/15 at Toronto, David Schlemko (miss in 5th round of 3-2 loss)

-- 12/18/16 at Rangers, Damon Severson (miss in 4th round of 3-2 loss)

The Devils lost their fifth consecutive game in regulation, 3-1 in Ottawa on Saturday night. Mike Condon made 29 saves in the win for the Senators, improving his career record against the Devils to 3-0-1. The only active goalies who have won as least three games without a regulation loss against New Jersey are Jake Allen of St. Louis (5-0-0) and Antti Raanta of the Rangers (3-0-0), who also defeated the Devils during their current losing streak.

John Moore scored the lone goal for New Jersey in the loss and set a new career high for goals with his fifth of the season.

Moore is one of four defensemen to have scored at least five career goals for both the Devils and Rangers:

-- Bruce Driver, 83 for N.J. and 13 for NYR

-- Joe Cirella, 43 and 7

-- Vladimir Malakhov, 5 and 12

-- John Moore, 9 and 6

The Devils lost to the Blues, 5-2 on Thursday night in St Louis. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists in the win, after notching three assists in the Blues' 4–1 victory in Newark the Friday before.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tarasenko is only the second Blues player to register a pair of three-point games against the Devils. The first was Doug Gilmour, who had two three-point games vs. New Jersey on March 21 and 29, 1987.

The loss was the Devils' fifth straight against the Blues in St. Louis, matching their longest current road losing streak against an opponent. New Jersey has also lost each of its last five road games against the Islanders, Colorado Avalanche and Calgary Flames.

Plus/Minus:

Plus: Miles Wood. The Devils' rookie scored his third goal of the season in Sunday night's loss to the Rangers and also led New Jersey with six shots and four hits.

Minus: Lonesome Road. The Devils have just one regulation win away from home this season (4-1 at Carolina on Nov. 6) and six overall, tied with Arizona and Vancouver for the fewest in the NHL.