The New Jersey Devils have been rolling. This isn’t news. They just came off a franchise record-tying 13-game winning streak, and they started another one with a win against Buffalo this past Friday. After taking care of business on Saturday against the Washington Capitals, this new-look Devils team went into the Hudson River Rivalry for the first time.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Devils won the game 5-3. They let the Rangers get back into it after the Devils dominated the second period. Three penalties in the third period eventually cut the Devils lead in half. However, Yegor Sharangovich was able to ice the game with an empty-net goal with just 15 seconds left in the game.
This is one of the best runs in Devils franchise history. This team is ungodly good. Now, we learned this is one of the best runs in NHL history. The Devils’ win against the Rangers was their 13th team win in November. No team in the HISTORY OF THE NHL has won 13 games in November (thanks to Mike Morreale of NHL.com for the stat!)
#NJDevils beat Rangers 5-3. New Jersey now 17-0-0 when Nico Hischier records at least one point this season, and 9-0-0 when Jack Hughes scores a goal. The Devils are the first team in NHL history to win 13 games in November.
— Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL) November 29, 2022
Everything is clicking right now. It could have easily gone off the rails when Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek both got hurt within a week or so. The Devils could have struggled to replace their big free agent acquisition Ondrej Palat, who had surgery on his groin. Things could have gone in the tank when the fans chanted, “Fire Lindy.”
So many moments led into November that could have been a turning point for this franchise. Instead, the Devils kept their foot on the gas, and they broke a record in doing so. Nothing has been able to stop this Devils team. They’ve had two Canadian road trips during this run, and they were the first team ever to sweep them both. They faced heavy teams, fast teams, skillful teams, and balanced teams. They beat them all.
The only game the Devils lost in the month of November had to have three goals overturned to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a chance. It took everything going against the Devils and a very hot goaltender just to lose one game.
The next game will come in the month of December. It’s hard to fathom that the Devils could have anything close to this level of success in November. Still, the Devils go into the month with the most points of any team in the Eastern Conference (at least as of this writing) and an eight-point lead over the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. Let’s keep the good times rolling.