The New Jersey Devils will return from the NHL's holiday break Thursday night having lost 3 of their last 4 games and with just 31 points, their fewest at Christmas since 2014 when they also had 31.
The Devils were shut out for the second time this season, a 3-0 loss to the Blue Jackets Sunday afternoon at Prudential Center in their final game before the Christmas break.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves for Columbus in the win, his third career shutout vs. New Jersey, tied for the fifth-most among active goaltenders:
Henrik Lundqvist 8Marc-Andre Fleury 6Roberto Luongo 4Braden Holtby 4Jaroslav Halak 3Ryan Miller 3Sergei Bobrovsky 3
Bobrovsky's 39 saves were two shy of the most ever by a visiting goalie in a regular season shutout victory over the Devils in New Jersey:
10/26/93 Patrick Roy 41 saves Mtl 2 at NJD 011/14/96 Mike Fountain 40 saves Van 3 at NJD 04/4/96 Jason Muzzatti 40 saves Har 1 at NJD 011/6/91 Bob Essensa 40 saves Wpg 1 at NJD 012/23/18 Sergei Bobrovsky 39 saves CBJ 3 at NJD 0
The Devils beat the Senators, 5-2, Friday night at Prudential Center.
Taylor Hall led the way with his second four-point game of the season, scoring two goals to go along with a pair of assists.
Hall, who also had two goals and two assists back on November 13th vs. Pittsburgh, now has four career four-point games since coming to New Jersey two seasons ago.
Here are the players with the most career games with at least four points for the Devils:
Patrik Elias 12John MacLean 12Kirk Muller 7Aaron Broten 7Zach Parise 7Scott Gomez 5Claude Lemieux 4Pat Verbeek 4Taylor Hall 4
Hall (two goals and two assists) combined with Kyle Palmieri (one goal and two assists) and Nico Hischier (a goal and an assist) for nine points in the win over the Senators.
The last time three New Jersey players combined for 10 or more points in a game was also against Ottawa nearly three years ago on January 21st, 2016 when Travis Zajac (a goal and three assists), Joseph Blandisi (a goal and two assists) and Kyle Palmieri (two goals and an assist) did so in a 6-3 win vs. the Senators at the Rock.
The Devils lost to the Blue Jackets, 2-1, last Thursday night in Columbus.
MacKenzie Blackwood, making his first NHL start, made 36 saves on 38 shots faced and allowed a goal on a Cam Atkinson penalty shot in the second period.
The 38 shots equaled the second most against a goalie in their first NHL start for New Jersey.
Chris Terreri faced 46 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on October 21st, 1986 and Alain Chevrier faced 38 in a 6-5 win at Philadelphia on October 10th, 1985.
According to NHL Stats, Blackwood becomes the sixth goaltender to face a penalty shot in their first regular season NHL start:
2/13/89 Bob Essensa Wpg vs. Steve Yzerman Det (goal)10/19/89 Mike Richter NYR vs. Kevin Dineen Har4/9/02 Jan Lasak Nas vs. Keith Tkachuk Stl10/10/03 Marc-Andre Fleury Pit vs. Esa Pirnes LA11/28/05 Jimmy Howard Det vs. Joe Corvo LA (goal)12/20/18 MacKenzie Blackwood NJ vs. Cam Atkinson CBJ (goal)
Blackwood also became the first goaltender to make his first NHL start on the road for New Jersey since Jean-Francois Damphousse on November 23rd, 2001, a 2-0 loss at Tampa Bay.
The Devils lost to the Maple Leafs, 7-2, last Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
It was New Jersey’s second lopsided loss to Toronto this season, having lost, 6-1, to the Leafs back on November 9th at Scotiabank Arena.
The Devils have now allowed seven or more goals to the Leafs seven times in franchise history:
12/18/18 Tor 7 at NJD 22/27/91 NJD 3 at Tor 71/3/87 NJD 2 at Tor 73/13/86 Tor 7 at NJD 412/4/85 NJD 7 at Tor 103/7/84 NJD 4 at Tor 8
MacKenzie Blackwood made his NHL debut for the Devils, replacing Keith Kinkaid at the start of the third period.
Blackwood, who turned 22 years old on December 9th, became the fifth youngest goalie to play for the Devils at the time of his first career game according to the player game finder on hockey-reference.com and hockeygoalies.org:
Craig Billington 19 years, 85 days 12/4/85 at TorMartin Brodeur 19 years, 325 days 3/26/92 vs. BosSean Burke 21 years, 33 days 3/2/88 vs. WasChad Erickson 21 years, 214 days 3/22/92 at NYRMacKenzie Blackwood 22 years, 9 days 12/18/18 vs. Tor
Plus/Minus:
Plus: Hall of a Class. With the Devils' lone goal in the loss at Columbus, Taylor Hall became the 3rd player from the 2010 NHL Draft to reach the 200-goal mark, joining Tyler Seguin and Jeff Skinner.
Minus: Blue Christmas. The last time the Devils were in last place in the Eastern Conference at Christmas was back in 2010.