Schwei's Devils Notes: Calendar Can't Flip To 2017 Fast Enough
By John Schweibacher
» More Columns
The New Jersey Devils snapped their season-high seven-game losing streak last week, but have just that lone win in their last nine games (1-7-1) heading into the final week of 2016.
The Devils lost their final game before the Christmas break, 4-1 to the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Friday, and will face the defending Stanley Cup champions again in Newark when the NHL resumes play Tuesday night.
The Penguins have the most points of any club in the calendar year of 2016, while the Devils rank 26th with three December games remaining.
Most points NHL 2016:
1. Pittsburgh, 52-19-9, 113 points
2. Anaheim, 48-22-11, 107
3. Washington, 48-9-10, 106
4. Chicago, 47-22-10, 104
5. San Jose, 49-26-5, 103
6. Philadelphia, 46-25-11, 103
7. NY Rangers, 48-26-6, 102
8. St. Louis, 44-23-10, 98
9. Columbus, 43-23-9, 95
10. Tampa Bay, 45-30-4, 94
Fewest points NHL 2016:
21. Calgary, 36-38-7, 79
22. Edmonton, 34-34-11, 79
23. Buffalo, 32-30-15, 79
24. Winnipeg, 34-38-9, 77
25. Carolina, 34-25-8, 76
26. New Jersey, 32-36-10, 74
27. Vancouver, 31-41-7, 69
28. Toronto, 29-39-11, 69
29. Colorado, 33-42-2, 68
30. Arizona, 28-41-10, 66
Kyle Palmieri scored his sixth goal of the season and his second in two games in the loss to Pittsburgh. Palmieri, who had a career-high 30 goals last season, had not scored in consecutive games since scoring in three straight from Dec. 26-29, 2015.
The Devils improved to 9-2-2 at home with a 4-0 win over the Flyers last Thursday night. Cory Schneider stopped 16 shots.
It was the first time New Jersey shut out an opponent this season and the first time in 40 games, dating to March 24, 2016, a 3-0 win at Pittsburgh with Scott Wedgewood making 39 saves.
The last time the Devils went this deep into a season before recording their first shutout win was back in 2005-06. That season, it came in their 40th game, a 3-0 victory over Florida on Jan. 3 at the Meadowlands with Martin Brodeur in goal.
Schneider became the first Devils goalie other than Brodeur to shut out the Flyers since Chris Terreri, who made 25 saves in a 2-0 win in New Jersey back on Oct. 17, 1992.
The Devils lost their seventh consecutive game, 5-1 to the Predators, last Tuesday night in Newark. The defeat was just New Jersey's second regulation loss at home this season, tied with the Penguins and Blues for the fewest in the NHL this season.
The five goals allowed were the most ever by the Devils in a game against Nashville since the Predators joined the NHL to start the 1998-99 season.
Plus/Minus: Plus: Junior achievements. Four Devils' prospects -- Blake Speers and Michael McLeod (Canada), Joey Anderson (USA) and Yegor Rykov (Russia) -- were selected by their countries to participate in the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships, which is going on now through Jan. 5 in Montreal and Toronto.
Minus: Sloppy seconds. New Jersey's loss to Pittsburgh in the final game before the break dropped its record to 3-2-2 in second games of back-to-back contests. The Devils began the season 3-0-0 in the back half of consecutive games.
