The New Jersey Devils are now winners of 12 straight games. It is one of the most impressive streaks in the team’s history. This most recent win came via the win they earned against the Ottawa Senators.
The Devils got off to a good start when Erik Haula finally scored his first goal of the season. He had been very good defensively and in the faceoff dot, but the pressure of scoring a goal in a Devils uniform was starting to build up. He finally got one.
Later in the first period, the BMW line of Nathan Bastian, Miles Wood, and Michael McLeod created a goal that gave them a 2-0 lead. Having this line play as well as it has made the Devils hard to play against because of how dangerous their top nine is.
Jesper Boqvist scored to make it a 3-0 game before Akira Schmid finally gave up the lone Senators’ goal. He was really good in this game, as he made 25 saves on 26 shots. No matter who has been in the net, the Devils have gotten good goaltending on this run.
Nico Hischier and Yegor Sharangovich made a great play shorthanded to give the Devils a 4-1 lead before Michael McLeod hit an empty netter. It was a great finish to seal the big victory. Everyone on the team did their job to get the win.
The New Jersey Devils made a bit of NHL history on Saturday afternoon.
This game made a little bit of NHL history. Nobody has ever swept the Western Canadian road trip (Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames) and Eastern Canadian road trip (Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs) in the same season.
All of those teams are decent at times, and there are a few really good teams in there, but there is a reason that no team has ever done that in NHL history. It is two road trips that are far from home and are a lot.
Now that these two road trips are in the bank, the Devils are coming home to play a few of these teams again. It starts with the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night. Every game from now on is sure to be a great test for New Jersey as they try to extend the winning streak.