The New Jersey Devils have fallen into a tie for last place in the Eastern Conference as they reached the All-Star break after losing each of their last three games this past week.
If Ottawa, Detroit and Chicago all get points in their final games before the All-Star Game, New Jersey will be alone in last place in the NHL at the break for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
That season, the Devils were 16-30-3 with 35 points at the All-Star break, but went 22-9-2 for 46 points the rest of the season to finish one point shy of .500 at 38-39-5 and 81 points.
The Devils dropped their third straight game, 3-2, to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon at Prudential Center.
MORE: Lichtenstein: Devils At The Break: When Push Came To Shove, They’ve Gotten Shoved
Nathan Bastian, who made his NHL debut for New Jersey after being called up from AHL Binghamton, got into his first fight, squaring off with Ducks defenseman Josh Manson midway through the second period.
According to the Hockey-Reference.com and HockeyFights.com, the 21-year-old right wing became the eighth player in Devils history (and the first in almost 22 years) to get a fighting major in his NHL debut.
The others were:
• Oct. 7, 1983 -- Alan Hepple vs. Ron Greschner (NYR)• Jan. 14, 1986 -- Allan Stewart vs. Rick Tocchet (Phi)• Oct. 9, 1987 -- Brendan Shanahan vs. Moe Mantha (Pit)• Nov. 17, 1988 -- Jamie Huscroft vs. Perry Berezan (Cgy)• Feb. 17, 1990 -- Troy Crowder* vs. John Kordic (Tor) • Oct. 3, 1993 -- Jason Smith vs. Enrico Ciccone (Was)• March 9, 1997 -- Krzysztof Oliwa vs. Bob Boughner (Buf)
(* This was Crowder’s regular season debut. He also had two fights in his NHL debut in the postseason two years earlier versus Jay Miller and Lyndon Byers of the Bruins in Game 3 of the conference finals.)
Former Devil Adam Henrique had an assist for the Ducks in their win over his ex-club.
Here are the NHL point totals this season for ex-Devils who were with New Jersey for all or part of last season:• Adam Henrique (Ana) -- 9 goals, 18 assists, 27 points• Pat Maroon (StL) -- 4 goals, 9 assists, 13 points• Michael Grabner (Arz) -- 6 goals, 5 assists, 11 points• John Moore (Bos) -- 2 goals, 7 assists, 9 points• Brian Gibbons (Ana) -- 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points• Dalton Prout (Cgy) -- 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points
On Thursday night, the Devils lost to the Islanders, 4-1, in their first meeting at Nassau Coliseum since Dec. 15, 2014.
Michael Dal Colle's first career goal proved to be the game-winner for the Islanders.
Dal Colle, the fifth overall pick in the 2014 draft, became the 10th Islanders rookie to score his first NHL goal against the Devils, according to Hockey-Reference.com:
The others were: • Jan. 7, 2018 -- Sebastian Aho• March 21, 2008 -- Kyle Okposo• March 14, 2006 -- Jeff Tambellini• March 24, 2000 -- Evgeny Korolev• April 12, 1999 -- Vladimir Orszagh• Dec. 27, 1995 -- Niklas Andersson• Jan. 13, 1989 -- Rob DiMaio• Dec. 28, 1987 -- Todd McLellan• April 6, 1986 -- Brad Dalgarno
The loss dropped New Jersey’s road record this season to 5-17-3 for a total of 13 points, the fewest in the NHL:
• New Jersey, 5-17-3 (13 pts)• Ottawa, 7-16-1 (15 pts)• NY Rangers, 8-14-2 (18 pts)• Chicago, 8-14-3 (19 pts)• Los Angeles, 8-13-3 (19 pts)• Detroit, 8-13-3 (19 pts)
Last Tuesday night in Columbums, New Jersey’s modest two-game winning streak came to an end with a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets.
The Devils are now 6-16-2 in their last 24 games versus the Blue Jackets dating back to the start of the 2013-14 season when the NHL realigned the divisions.
Here are New Jersey’s records against their Metropolitan Division rivals over the past six seasons:
• vs. Philadelphia, 15-7-2 (32 pts)• vs. Carolina, 14-8-1 (29 pts)• vs. Pittsburgh, 11-10-3 (25 pts)• vs. N.Y. Rangers, 10-8-3 (23 pts)• vs. N.Y. Islanders, 7-10-7 (21 pts)• vs. Washington, 7-13-3 (17 pts)• vs. Columbus, 6-16-2 (11 pts)
Blake Coleman scored the lone goal for the Devils in the loss to the Blue Jackets, his fifth goal in five games and 17th of the season as he surpassed the 13 he had as a rookie in 2017-18.
Here is how the Devils who were rookies last season have fared so far this season:
2017-18 2018-19
Nico Hischier 20g 32a 52pts 13g 19a 32ptsWill Butcher 5g 39a 44pts 2g 15a 17ptsJesper Bratt 13g 22a 35pts 4g 16a 20ptsBlake Coleman 13g 12a 25pts 17g 10a 27pts
New Jersey has gotten just 18 points from rookies this season, including five from J.S. Dea, who is no longer with the team.
Plus/Minus
Plus: First Timer. Kyle Palmieri was added to the roster for this weekend's All-Star Game in San Jose, replacing teammate Taylor Hall on the Metropolitan Division squad. It will be the first career All-Star appearance for the Devils right wing.
Minus: Missing Out. This will be the second year in a row Hall has missed the All-Star Game because of injury. Brian Boyle was his replacement last year in Tampa.