Schwei: 2011 - A Good Calendar Year For The Devils
By John Schweibacher
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The New Jersey Devils close out the 2011 portion of their 2011-12 schedule this week with home-ice contests against the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins and begin their 30th anniversary year on the road in Ottawa vs. the Senators.
The calendar year of 2011 was kind to the Devils as they have posted an overall mark of 47-29-4 for 98 points with two games remaining in 2011.
Only six NHL clubs have had better years, record-wise than New Jersey as 2011 comes to a close.
Best NHL records January-December 2011:
• Vancouver Canucks 112 PTS 53-23-6
• Boston Bruins 105 PTS 49-23-7
• Chicago Blackhawks 104 PTS 47-22-10
• San Jose Sharks 101 PTS 47-23-7
• Philadelphia Flyers 101 PTS 45-22-11
• Buffalo Sabres 99 PTS 45-28-9
• New Jersey Devils 98 PTS 47-29-4
Worst NHL records January-December 2011:
• Columbus Blue Jackets 60 PTS 23-42-14
• Colorado Avalanche 62 PTS 29-48-4
• Edmonton Oilers 64 PTS 28-45-8
• Atlanta/Winnipeg 71 PTS 30-36-11
• NY Islanders 73 PTS 30-37-13
(Records through games of 12/26)
Ilya Kovalchuk recorded a goal and an assist against the Capitals on Friday, and he scored the deciding goal in the shootout that earned the Devils a 4-3 win after they squandered a 3-0 lead in the third period.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kovalchuk has scored on six of his
seven shootout attempts this season (an 86 percent success rate), after entering this season having converted only 26 percent of his chances in tiebreakers. Kovalchuk is now 7-for-13 (54 percent) overall in shootouts with New Jersey after going 10-for-36 (28 percent) with Atlanta.
Kovalchuk and Zach Parise share the NHL and Devils' lead with six shootout goals so far this season. Viktor Kozlov holds the New Jersey club record for most shootout goals in a season, going 8-for-12 in 2005-06, the first year the tie-breaker was used.
Kovalchuk's five shootout-deciding goals this season give him six since joining the Devils, trailing only Parise (9) and Patrik Elias (7) for the most in club history.
Derek Stepan had three assists against the Devils in New Jersey's 4-1 loss to the Rangers last week at Prudential Center. Stepan's father, Brad, who was a 5th round draft pick of the Rangers back in 1985, was a teammate of Pete DeBoer back in 1986-87 and 1987-88 with the Windsor Compuware Spitfires of the OHL.
The Devils defeated the Sabres, 5-3, in their lone meeting so far this season back on November 16th in Buffalo, ending a string of three straight losses against them.
New Jersey will be looking to end a three-game, head-to-head losing streak against the Penguins when the two teams meet Saturday afternoon.
Pittsburgh took the only meeting of the season to date between the two clubs, 4-1, back on October 22nd.
The Devils defeated Atlanta last year on New Year's Eve to improve their all-time record on that date to 3-10-0. This will be the third time New Jersey will face Pittsburgh in a December 31st game, the teams have split the prior New Year's Eve contests but the more memorable of the two occurred back in 1988 when Mario Lemieux led the Penguins to an 8-6 win in Pittsburgh by scoring five goals, one at even strength, one on the power-play, one shorthanded, a penalty shot and an empty-netter.
New Jersey plays its first game of 2012 Monday night in Ottawa. The Devils defeated the Senators, 5-4, a shootout win back on December 8th in Newark in the first of their four meetings this season.
Alex Auld took the loss that night for Ottawa, falling to 0-5-3 in his career against New Jersey. Auld, who is in his second career stint with the Senators, has now lost to the Devils while playing for Vancouver, Florida, Boston, Dallas and Ottawa. He avoided defeats against New Jersey while with Phoenix, the New York Rangers and Montreal.
Schwei's Plus/Minus:
Plus: Merrier Christmas. Devils reached holiday break with 19-14-1 record with 39 points, tied for 7th in Eastern Conference. A year ago, New Jersey was 9-23-2 with 20 points in last place overall in the NHL standings.
Minus: Own Goal. Empty-net goal by Carolina in 4-2 loss Monday was credited to Cam Ward, the second goalie to score a goal against New Jersey joining Damian Rhodes, who was credited with one during a delayed penalty in a 6-0 Ottawa Senators win over the Devils back on January 2nd, 1999.
