The Devils survived their six-game road trip and then began their four-game homestand with a win as they continue their playoff push.
New Jersey completed a season sweep of Tampa Bay (3-0-0) with a 2-1 win Saturday night at the Prudential Center.
Keith Kinkaid made 35 saves in the victory over the Lightning. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that Kinkaid has played one game this season against each of the four current NHL division leaders -- Tampa Bay, Washington, Nashville and Vegas -- and has won all of those games, allowing only nine goals in the process (2.20 goals-against average).
Nico Hischier opened the scoring for New Jersey on Saturday night with his 18th goal, giving him 49 points this season.
Hischier is now only one point shy of becoming the fifth Devils rookie in club history to record 50 points or more. The others are:• Scott Gomez (1999-2000) --70 points (19 goals, 51 assists)• Kevin Todd (1991-92) -- 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) • Kirk Muller (1984-85) -- 54 points (17 goals, 37 assists)• Adam Henrique (2011-12) -- 51 points (16 goals, 35 assists)
Will Butcher notched his 34th assist of the season on Hischier's goal and is now tied with Eric Weinrich (1990-91) and Viacheslav Fetisov (1989-90) for most assists by a Devils rookie defenseman.
Kyle Palmieri scored what proved to be the game-winning goal Saturday night, his 21st goal of the season. He had 26 goals last season and 30 in 2015-16.
Only four other Devils have scored more than 20 goals in each of their first three seasons with New Jersey:• Mel Bridgman -- 23 goals in 1983-84, 22 in 1984-85, 23 in 1985-86• Doug Sulliman -- 22 goals in 1984-85, 21 in 1985-86, 27 in 1986-87• Claude Lemieux -- 30 goals in 1990-91, 41 in 1991-92, 30 in 1992-93• Stephane Richer -- 29 goals in 1991-92, 38 in 1992-93, 36 in 1993-94
On Friday night in Pittsburgh, the Devils finished their six-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins.
Taylor Hall's goal 27 seconds into overtime gave the Devils the win. Hall has now scored 10 overtime goals in his NHL career -- five for the Devils and five for the Edmonton Oilers.
According to Elias, Hall is the sixth player in NHL history to score at least five regular-season overtime goals for two different teams.
Two of the other five players to accomplish the feat did so with New Jersey: Scott Niedermayer (Devils and Ducks) and Ilya Kovalchuk (Thrashers and Devils). The others were Brett Hull (Blues and Red Wings), Theo Fleury (Flames and Rangers) and Brent Burns (Wild and Sharks).
The win was New Jersey's fifth all-time in overtime at Pittsburgh in club history. These are the others, along with the game-winning goal scorers:• Oct. 11, 2008: NJD 2 at Pit 1 (Zach Parise)• April 2, 2006: NJD 3 at Pit 2 (Brian Gionta)• Feb. 9, 2002: NJD 2 at Pit 1 (Brian Rafalski)• March 9, 1996: NJD 4 at Pit 3 (Steve Thomas)
Butcher, Blake Coleman and Hischier scored the Devils' first three goals in the win over the Penguins.
Elias says that was only the fifth time in the club's 35 seasons in New Jersey that three rookies each scored a goal for the Devils in the same game, and the first time it happened in just over 25 years. The others:March 7, 1993: Phi 3 at NJD 7 (Niedermayer, Bill Guerin and Scott Pellerin)Oct. 23, 1990: NJD 8 at NYI 1 (Troy Crowder (2), Jon Morris and Zdeno Ciger) March 2, 1990: Pit 5 at NJD 6 (Alexei Kasatonov, Viacheslav Fetisov and Morris)Dec. 17, 1984: Edm 2 at NJD 5 (John MacLean, Rocky Trottier and Muller)
Last Tuesday night, the Devils lost to the Sharks, 6-2, in San Jose. Cory Schneider, making his first start since March 8, allowed four goals on 14 shots before being replaced by Kinkaid midway through the second period.
Schneider has lost 11 starts in a row (0-9-2) since his last win on Dec. 27.
The only other Devils goalie to lose 11 straight starts was Chico Resch, who went 0-11-0 from Dec. 11, 1985, through Feb. 6, 1986.
New Jersey lost the first of their two matchups vs. San Jose, 3-0 on Oct. 20 in Newark, and has now been outscored 17-3 in their last four meetings against the Sharks, going 0-4-0 over the last two seasons.
With the loss, the Devils are now 3-8-2 overall against San Jose since the start of the 2010-11 season.
Plus/Minus:
Plus: Kinkaid. The Devils goaltender has now gone 14-6-0 with a .921 save percentage and 2.58 goals-against average in 21 games played since Schneider was injured on Jan. 23.
Minus: Schneider. The goalie has played just four games since returning from a groin/hip injury in late January, and he and the Devils are now 0-4-0 in those games including last week's loss in San Jose.
