Despite their current three-game losing streak, the New Jersey Devils are still in a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with one month to go in the regular season.
The Devils lost their third straight game, 3-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights, on Sunday night at the Prudential Center in the first-ever meeting between the clubs.
It was just the third time in franchise history that New Jersey lost its first game against an expansion team.
The Senators beat the Devils, 3-1, on Nov. 25, 1992, in Ottawa. Mike Peluso scored twice for the Senators against his future club, and Peter Sidorkiewicz, who would also go on to play for New Jersey, was the winning goaltender.
MORE: Lichtenstein: Devils' Net Should Belong To The Hotter Kinkaid, Not Schneider
The Devils also lost their first game against the Nashville Predators, 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 30, 1999, at the Meadowlands. Former Devils goalie Mike Dunham got the win for Nashville.
Taylor Hall reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career when he scored the second goal for the Devils in the loss to the Golden Knights.
Hall has now recorded at least one point in each of the last 25 games he has played. (He sat out New Jersey's final three games before the All-Star break due to a thumb injury.)
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is only the fifth time since the 1992-93 NHL season that a player has produced a personal-game point streak of 25 games or longer within one season. The previous streaks were by the Quebec Nordiques' Mats Sundin (30 games in 1992-93), the Pittsburgh Penguins' Mario Lemieux (28 in 1995–96), the Penguins' Sidney Crosby (25 in 2010–11) and the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (26 in 2015–16).
Hall leads New Jersey with 72 points -- 31 more than Nico Hischier's 41, which ranks second on the Devils.
Here are the Devils' scoring leaders who finished the season more than 10 ahead of any other New Jersey teammate:• 2013-14 -- Jaromir Jagr (67 pts), Patrik Elias (53 pts)• 2009-10 -- Zach Parise (82 pts), Travis Zajac (67 pts)• 2008-09 -- Zach Parise (94 pts), Travis Zajac (78 pts)• 2003-04 -- Patrik Elias (81 pts), Scott Gomez (70 pts)• 2000-01 -- Patrik Elias (96 pts), Alexander Mogilny (83 pts)• 1988-89 -- John MacLean (87 pts), Kirk Muller (74 pts)• 1987-88 -- Kirk Muller (94 pts), Aaron Broten (83 pts)• 1985-86 -- Greg Adams (77 pts), Kirk Muller (66 pts)
On Friday night in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Devils lost to the Hurricanes 3-1.
Teuvo Teravainen scored the winning goal for the Hurricanes after doing the same in Carolina's win at Philadelphia on Thursday.
The Elias Sports Bureau noted that it was only the fifth time in franchise history that one player scored a game-winning goal for the Whalers/Hurricanes on each of two consecutive days.
The last Devils player with game-winning goals on consecutive days was Ilya Kovalchuk, who did it on Jan. 6 (5-2 over the Florida Panthers) and Jan. 7, 2012 (3-1 over the Pittsburgh Penguins).
On Thursday night, New Jersey lost to the Panthers 3-2 in Sunrise, Florida.
Cory Schneider made 26 saves in his first start since Jan. 23, when he injured his hip and groin in a loss to the Bruins.
Here is how the other Devils goalies fared in the 16 games Schneider missed:• Keith Kinkaid 8-4-0 31 GA 2.68 GAA .913 save percentage• Eddie Lack 1-2-0 11 GA 3.19 GAA .903 save percentage• Ken Appleby 0-1-0 3 GA 3.00 GAA .889 save percentage
Last Tuesday night, the Devils beat the Penguins 3-2 in Pittsburgh, their second win against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions this season.
The last time New Jersey had at least two wins against the club that had won the previous two Stanley Cups was also against Pittsburgh back in 1992-93.
The Devils went 2-6-1 vs. the Penguins that regular season and also fell to Pittsburgh four games to one in the first round of the playoffs that year.
On Feb. 24 at the Prudential Center, the Devils ended their two-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Islanders.
The win came on the night the Devils retired Patrik Elias' No. 26. New Jersey in now 5-0 on jersey retirement nights. A look at the other such wins:• Scott Stevens (No. 4), Feb. 3, 2006 -- Devils 3, Hurricanes 0 • Ken Daneyko (No. 3), March 24, 2006 -- Devils 4, Bruins 2 • Scott Niedermayer (No. 27), Dec. 16, 2011 -- Devils 6, Stars 3 • Martin Brodeur (No. 30), Feb. 9, 2016 -- Devils 2, Oilers 1
Plus/Minus:
Plus: Hall of a Year. Hall has at least one point in every game he has played in during 2018 (18 goals, 18 assists).
Minus: Can't get off the Schneid. Cory Schneider has lost each his last nine starts (0-7-2) dating back to Dec. 29.
