The New Jersey Devils have gone 3-1-0 so far on their current six-game road trip, as they try to hold on to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Devils suffered their first loss of the trip, 4-2, Sunday night against the Ducks in Anaheim.
The Ducks took a 1-0 lead 1:14 into the first period on a Ryan Getzlaf goal.
It was the seventh time Keith Kinkaid has allowed a goal in the opening two minutes of a game this season, but the Devils are now 5-2-0 in those games:
• Nov. 12, 2017 NJD 7 at Chi 5 :41, Artem Anisimov• Nov. 25, 2017 NJD 4 at Det 3 (OT) :34, David Booth• Dec. 2, 2017 NJD 0 at Arz 5 :34, Jason Demers• Jan. 16, 2018 NJD 4 at NYI 1 1:16, Anders Lee• Feb. 13, 2018 NJD 5 at Phi 4 (SO) 1:54, Travis Konecny• March 10, 2018 NJD 3 at Nsh 2 SO 1:17, Mattias Ekholm• March 18, 2018 NJD 2 at Ana 4 1:14, Ryan Getzlaf
The Ducks held the Devils to a season-low 17 shots. It was just the second time this season New Jersey did not attempt at least 20 shots. The Devils had 19 in a 3-2 win at the Rangers on Oct. 14.
On Saturday, the Devils beat the Kings 3-0 in Los Angeles.
Kinkaid stopped all 38 of the Kings’ shots on goal for his first shutout of the season.
It was the second shutout overall for New Jersey, the first since Cory Schneider beat the Canucks 2-0 on Nov. 1 at Vancouver.
The Elias Sports Bureau says that the 38 saves were the most by a Devils goaltender in a shutout since Scott Wedgewood stopped 39 shots on goal in a 3-0 victory at Pittsburgh on March 24, 2016.
Kinkaid now has two of New Jersey’s four shutouts all-time vs. the Kings. The others were:
• Feb. 14, 2016 LA 0 at NJ 1 Keith Kinkaid, 18 saves• Oct. 25, 2011 NJ 3 at LA 0 Johan Hedberg, 31 saves• Nov. 25, 2003 NJ 4 at LA 0 Martin Brodeur, 25 saves
Michael Grabner scored for the second time since joining the Devils, a short-handed goal 8:29 into the first period in the win over the Kings.
New Jersey is now tied for first in the NHL with 10 short-handed goals, the ninth time the Devils have reached double digits in short-handed goals in a season in club history. Here's a look at those years and the their top short-handed goal scorer for each:
• 1987-88 18 (Doug Brown 4)• 1991-92 15 (Tom Chorske 3)• 2011-12 15 (Adam Henrique 4)• 2008-09 12 (Langenbrunner & Gionta 3)• 1995-96 11 (Stephane Richer 4)• 2012-13 11 (Ilya Kovalchuk 4)• 1989-90 10 (MacLean & Brown 3)• 1993-94 10 (Stephane Richer 3)• 2017-18 10 (Brian Gibbons 3)
On Wednesday night, the Devils scored a season-high eight goals to defeat the Golden Knights 8-3 in Las Vegas.
New Jersey had not scored eight or more goals in a game since Dec. 12, 2008, an 8-5 win over the Rangers at the Prudential Center.
The Devils have scored as many as nine goals in a game against a first-year expansion club three times in their history. It happened twice at the Meadowlands: a 9-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 26, 1991, and a 9-3 victory vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 23, 1993. They also had a 9-0 road victory vs. the Thrashers on March 10, 2000, in Atlanta.
Blake Coleman had his first career two-goal game in the win over the Golden Knights.
Coleman is the third rookie to score two goals in a game for the Devils this season, joining Jesper Bratt (Oct. 9 at Buffalo) and Nico Hischier, who has done it twice (Oct. 19 at Ottawa and Dec. 27 vs. Detroit).
According to Elias, it is the first time that three different rookies have had multiple-goal games for the Devils in the same season since Valeri Zelepukin (two), Kevin Todd and Alexander Semak back in 1991-92.
PLUS/MINUS
Plus: Lucky Seven. Seven different players scored a goal for New Jersey in its win over Vegas, the first time the Devils had at least seven goal scorers in one game since a 7-1 win vs. the Blues in Newark on Jan. 21, 2014.
Minus: Knock on Wood. The Devils lost Miles Wood to an apparent elbow injury after a collision in second period in Sunday night's loss to Anaheim.