Schwei's Devils Notes: New Jersey Bounces Back In A Big Way

By John Schweibacher
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The Devils put their four-game losing streak behind them with back-to-back wins this past weekend against Florida and Chicago.

New Jersey trailed by three goals late in the first period on Sunday night at United Center, but rallied to beat the Blackhawks, 7-5.

It marked the first time the Devils rallied from a three-goal deficit to win in regulation since April 18, 2006, at Montreal. That win, New Jersey's 11th straight to end the regular season, clinched the Atlantic Division title.

Sunday's outcome was also just the fifth time in franchise history, including the days when the team was located in Kansas City and Colorado, that the Devils scored seven or more goals in a game against Chicago:

-- 11/12/17: Devils, 7-5
-- 3/8/89: Devils, 7-5
-- 1/8/86: Devils, 8-7
-- 11/18/78: Colorado, 8-3
-- 1/18/77: 7-7 tie.

Miles Wood had his first career hat trick in the win. It was the third all-time by a Devils player against the Blackhawks:

-- 11/12/17: Miles Wood
-- 12/1/16: Travis Zajac (Chicago wins 4-3 in OT)
-- 10/22/92: Claude Lemieux (Devils win 6-5 in OT)

The Devils beat the Florida Panthers, 2-1 on Saturday night at Prudential Center to snap their four-game losing streak. Cory Schneider stopped 32 shots in the victory to improve to 7-3-1 this season.

Since joining the Devils in 2013-14, Schneider has allowed no more than one goal in a game 76 times, tied for the fifth most in the NHL over that span (totals through games of Nov. 13). The others are:

-- Tuukka Rask (Boston) 93
-- Braden Holtby (Washington) 83
-- Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay, L.A. Kings, Dallas) 80
-- Carey Price (Montreal) 79
-- Devan Dubnyk (Edmonton, Nashville, Arizona, Minnesota) 76

Will Butcher had the primary assist on Kyle Palmieri's 5-on-3 goal that proved to be the game winner on Saturday. It was the rookie defenseman's eighth power play assist of the season, which is tied for third in the NHL through the games of Nov. 13:

-- Phil Kessel (Boston) 9
-- Shayne Gostisbehere (Philadelphia) 9
-- Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay) 9
-- Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay) 8
-- Blake Wheeler (Winnipeg) 8
-- Will Butcher (New Jersey) 8

New Jersey lost its fourth straight game, 3-2 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers last Thursday night in Newark.

It marked the sixth time in club history the Devils lost to the Oilers in OT, and the third time in the last three meetings:

-- 11/9/17: Edmonton, 3-2 (Leon Draisaitl GWG)
-- 1/12/17: Edmonton, 3-2 (Leon Draisaitl)
-- 1/7/17: Edmonton, 2-1 (Mark Letestu)
-- 1/12/91: Edmonton, 5-4 (Steve Smith)
-- 11/9/88: Edmonton, 3-2 (Glenn Anderson)
-- 1/24/86: Edmonton, 7-6 (Wayne Gretzky)

With the overtime loss, New Jersey finished the season series 0-1-1 against Edmonton, the second straight season the Oilers won both meetings between the two clubs.

The last time the Devils were swept in season series of at least two games in consecutive years by Edmonton was back in the club's first two seasons in New Jersey. The Oilers went 3-0-0 against the Devils in 1982-83 and 2-0-1 in 1983-84, outscoring them 40-19.

Brian Boyle opened the scoring at 5:33 of the first period with his first goal as a Devil. Boyle scored his first career NHL goal on Feb. 2, 2008, as a member of the L.A. Kings in a 6-3 loss to the Devils in New Jersey.

The last player who scored his first NHL goal against the Devils and went on to play for New Jersey later in their career was Jaromir Jagr, whose first came against the Devils on Oct. 7, 1990, in the Penguins' 7-4 victory in Pittsburgh.

Since the 1987-88 season, four other players who scored their first NHL goals against New Jersey later played for the Devils. They are: Ryan Carter (Anaheim, 2008), Cory Murphy (Florida, 2007), Turner Stevenson (Montreal, 1995) and Ken Sutton (Buffalo, 1991).

The Devils lost to the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 last Tuesday night at Prudential Center.

Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko each had one goal and two assists in the win for the visitors.

It marked the fourth time in club history at least two Blues players had at least three points in the same game against the Devils. The other three were:

-- 11/26/93: 6-6 tie (Brett Hull 2 goals, 1 assist; Craig Janney 4 assists)
-- 2/10/90: St. Louis, 7-0 (Gino Cavallini 3 goals; Paul Cavallini 3 goals; Ron Wilson 3 assists)
-- 11/29/87: St. Louis, 4-1 (Doug Gilmour 1 goal, 2 assists; Greg Paslawski 1 goal, 2 assists)

New Jersey has not defeated St. Louis in the teams' last eight meetings. It is the longest winless streak for the Devils against the Blues since a 0-8-2 stretch from Nov. 16, 1982-Dec. 15, 1985, the first 10 games played between the clubs following the Devils' move from Colorado.

Plus/Minus:

Plus: Feasting on the East. The Devils are 6-0-0 against the Atlantic Division (3-0-0 at home) and 7-1-0 against Eastern Conference opponents.

Minus: Taking Shots. The Devils allowed at least 40 shots on goal in three of the four games this past week and have done so five times overall this season. New Jersey opponents had 12 games with at least 40 shots all of last season.