After putting an end to their three-game losing streak with a pair of wins, the New Jersey Devils lost back-to-back games this past weekend versus Detroit and Carolina.
On Sunday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, Justin Williams and Micheal Ferland scored in the game's first 30 seconds and the Hurricanes held on for a 2-1 victory over the Devils.
Carolina's two goals in the first half-minute of the game tied for the fifth-fastest pair of goals by one team after the opening faceoff in NHL history.
According to NHL Public Relations, the previous record for fastest two goals allowed by New Jersey to start a game was 53 seconds on Dec. 19, 1986, versus Washington.
The Devils actually fell behind 3-0 in the opening 1:19 of that game at Brendan Byrne Arena, but rallied to beat the Capitals 6-4 thanks to Mel Bridgman (two goals and an assist), Doug Sulliman (one goal and two assists) and John MacLean (two goals).
The Devils' modest two-game win streak came to an end with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Red Wings on Saturday afternoon at the Prudential Center.
Excluding seven games that ended in ties, it was the eighth time a game between New Jersey and Detroit was decided in OT, including at least one in each of the last four seasons:• Nov. 17, 2018: Red Wings 3 at Devils 2 (Dylan Larkin game-winner)• Nov. 25, 2017: Devils 4 at Red Wings 3 (Brian Gibbons)• Nov. 25, 2016: Red Wings 5 at Devils 4 (Mike Green)• Dec. 11, 2015: Red Wings 2 at Devils 3 (Kyle Palmieri)• Nov. 27, 2002: Devils 2 at Red Wings 3 (Kris Draper)• Nov. 20, 1993: Red Wings 4 at Devils 3 (Slava Kozlov)• Jan. 21, 1988: Red Wings 3 at Devils 2 (Brent Ashton)• Jan. 15, 1986: Devils 4 at Red Wings 3 (Tim Higgins)
Blake Coleman scored a short-handed goal to give the Devils a 2-0 second-period lead in the loss.
It was the first short-handed goal of the season for New Jersey, coming in its 18th game.
It is the longest the Devils have gone into a season before scoring a short-handed goal since 2006-07, when it took 25 games.
The deepest into a season New Jersey has gone before scoring their first short-handed goal was 46 games back in 2001-02. Jay Pandolfo ended the short-handed goal drought that season in a 6-4 win over the Rangers on Jan. 17, 2002, at the Meadowlands.
On Thursday night in Philadelphia, New Jersey made it back-to-back wins with a 3-0 victory over the Flyers.
Keith Kinkaid earned his third shutout on the season, stopping all 29 shots he faced.
Kinkaid, who beat the Flyers, 1-0, on April 4, 2017, became the only Devils goalie other than Martin Brodeur to have more than one career shutout against Philadelphia.
Brodeur was also the only Devils goalie prior to Kinkaid to shut out the Flyers in Philadelphia. Here's a look at each time that was accomplished:• Nov. 15, 2018: Devils 3 at Flyers 0 (Kinkaid, 29 saves)• Nov. 7, 2013: Devils 3 at Flyers 0 (Brodeur, 22 saves)• April 18, 2013: Devils 2 at Flyers 0 (Brodeur, 23 saves)• Dec. 13, 2003: Devils 2 at Flyers 0 (Brodeur, 32 saves)• Dec. 2, 2002: Devils 1 at Flyers 0 (Brodeur, 26 saves)• Oct. 27, 1997: Devils 5 at Flyers 0 (Brodeur, 20 saves)
Devils rookie Joey Anderson scored the first goal of the game and the first of his NHL career 3:45 into the first period, and it proved to be the game-winner.
The last player to score his first career goal for New Jersey in a game versus Philadelphia was Adam Henrique on Nov. 3, 2011, at Wells Fargo Center.
The only other player whose first career NHL goal was also a game-winner for the Devils against the Flyers was Janne Ojanen on Oct. 5, 1989.
Ojanen, who would later become the Finnish Elite League's all-time scoring leader, gave New Jersey a 3-0 lead in an eventual 6-2 win at Philadelphia in that season-opening game.
Last Tuesday night in Newark, the Devils ended their three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the Penguins.
Taylor Hall scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an empty-netter to cap a four-point night.
According to the Hockey-Refernce.com, it was the first four-point game by a Devils player against the Penguins since Scott Gomez had one goal and three assists on April 5, 2006, in a 6-4 New Jersey win at the Meadowlands.
Nico Hischier was scratched with an upper-body injury, the first time he missed a game in his NHL career after 97 games played.
No Devils player has appeared in every game of the first two seasons of his career with the team.
Zach Parise came the closest to doing so, appearing in 163 of 164 regular-season games in his rookie and sophomore seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Devils captain Andy Greene was the last player to appear in all 82 regular-season games for New Jersey in consecutive seasons, doing it three straight times: 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Plus/Minus
Plus: Pavel Zacha. The Devils center has two goals and a plus-3 rating in four games played since being recalled from AHL Binghamton.
Minus: Injury Bug. Sami Vatanen was placed on injured reserve after leaving the game versus the Flyers with a lower-body injury, joining Hischier, Brian Boyle and Steven Santini as the Devils' scratches.
