New Jersey Devils Look to Improve on Road in 2019-20
By Kevin Whalen
The New Jersey Devils 2019-20 schedule was unveiled on Tuesday. In a season with many points to improve upon, the winning percentage on the road will surely be a point of emphasis for Coach John Hynes. New Jersey was only 11-27-3 on the road a year ago. After combing through the schedule, let’s go over some of the key points.
From October12th to November 2nd, the Devils don’t play a single road game. They have a stretch where they play a six-game homestand, during which they have a mini break from the 20th to the 24th. This will be a nice stretch for a young team trying to find its identity early on. It could build confidence on the road later on.
After that, they begin a five-game road trip, equal to their longest of the season. Last year, their longest road trip was seven games. After they open this road trip up in Raleigh to play the Hurricanes, they head on their western Canada swing to face Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Of those teams, they were 1-3 on the road in those cities.
In December, they have a four-game roady over the span of eight days, starting with Nashville, then moving on to Dallas, Colorado and finishing in Arizona; three playoff teams from last season. They skated to a 3-5 record against these clubs (two wins coming against the ‘yotes.
January could be a challenging month as the road games outnumber home seven to four, but we get the All-Star Break in there as a nice way to break up the month.
More from Pucks and Pitchforks
- Should New Jersey Devils Try Load Management With Vitek Vanecek?
- New Jersey Devils Will Prove That Last Year Wasn’t A Fluke
- New Jersey Devils: Luke Hughes’ Playmaking Will Outshine His Mistakes
- New Jersey Devils: Chase Stillman’s Performance Causes Concern
- Can Devils Fans Separate Zach Parise Heartbreak From Achievements?
The next five-game road trip is from February 25th to March 3rd. Here the Devils start on the road in Detroit and then do their annual West Coast venture. New Jersey was 1-3 in these games, with the only win coming in L.A. to the Kings. This is always a challenging road trip considering the level these teams usually play at. This should be a real test next year for the Devils, especially with Anaheim and the Kings likely to play better.
A couple of notable things about this years schedule. New Jersey has 16 back-to-back games throughout their schedule, but with only 2 back to backs between January and February in total. That will be a nice breathing point for this team.
Lastly, the game to look forward to the most is the first night the Devils play in Madison Square Garden. January 9 is the night. Yes, we want to see the Jack Hughes vs. Kaapo Kakko matchup in MSG more than at The Rock. The biggest reason being is because I want to see how Hughes goes against Kakko on the road and takes the Rangers fans out of it. We all know how Ranger fans can be, so to put a pin in them on their home ice is something I look forward too.