It’s been over a year since New Jersey Devils goalie Cory Schneider saw his name in the win column during the regular season. That finally ended on Saturday.
It finally happened. After 402 days without a win on any level in the regular season, whether it be with the New Jersey Devils or Binghamton Devils, Cory Schneider is now the winning goaltender of record. He did win a game for the Devils in the playoffs, but the regular season has been a year-long terrible stretch that felt like it was never ending.
It wasn’t without moments of lost hope, and it was literally inches away from not happening, but Cory Schneider wakes up this morning as a winner for the first time in a long time. Just one day ago, we worried about whether Schneider would ever win a game again. Now, we’re not saying this was a reverse jinx, but it did immediately end. Schneider beat the Belleville Senators on Saturday night.
Many of you may have missed it after the Devils ridiculous win Saturday afternoon against the Montreal Canadiens. Nico Hischier won the game in overtime, and had Devils fans forgetting the bad performance of Thursday. However a few hours later, Binghamton took the ice.
The Devils needed a shootout to finally get Schneider the win. After Nathan Bastian scored in the shootout, it literally came inches away from not ending. Take a look:
https://twitter.com/BingDevils/status/1091898746147926016
The puck trickled past Schneider, but he reached back and threw it away before it went past the line. He won the game with this ridiculous move. Again, we were inches away from still asking if Schneider would ever get a win again, but the monkey is finally off his back.
Schneider has been playing much better the last two games. He stopped 24 of 26 shots on Saturday night, and stopped 31 of 34 shots on Friday night in a loss to the Rochester Americans.
Now that the terrible, terrible streak is finally over, it’s time to look ahead. The New Jersey Devils have a decision to make. With Mackenzie Blackwood literally carrying the Devils to a win on Saturday, and Keith Kinkaid still on the roster, Schneider has nowhere to go. The Devils have to bring him back up, and will likely carry three goalies on the roster for now.
This could be the moment we needed for Schneider. He still needs to get over the hump on the main roster, but for now a wins a win. And Schneider needed a win more than anyone in the league.