Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Hey, let’s hear it for the Devils

Martin Havlat, Mike Cammalleri, Patrik Elias, Jon Merrill, Evgeni Nabokov

New Jersey Devils’ Martin Havlat, Mike Cammalleri, Patrik Elias and Jon Merrill, from right, celebrate the go-ahead goal against Tampa Bay Lightning’s Evgeni Nabokov (20) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, in Tampa, Fla. The Devils defeated the Lightning 2-1. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

AP

This isn’t to say we’ve been completely ignoring the New Jersey Devils here at PHT -- Halford wrote something on them yesterday prior to their game in Tampa Bay -- but it does feel like their perfect 3-0-0 start has been overshadowed by a bunch of other stories around the NHL. Hence, this post.

In case you missed it, the Devils beat the Lightning, 2-1, last night. New Jersey has now outscored its opposition by a combined 13-6. Even more impressive? The Devils haven’t played a home game yet.

“We’re getting contributions from a lot of different areas right now, and that’s what it takes to win,” coach Peter DeBoer said.

Speaking of contributions, goalie Cory Schneider has started all three games and registered a .937 save percentage, while new winger Mike Cammalleri has already scored four times.

Cammalleri is also the only Devil with more than one goal, meaning nine others have scored in addition.

“I feel like we’re playing a four-line unit right now and we’re generating offense as a group,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of goal scorers this year.”

As we wrote in September, the Devils haven’t exactly gotten all the luck the past two seasons:

After the lockout-shortened campaign of 2013, DeBoer said he thought his team deserved a better fate than missing the playoffs.

Then, in 2013-14 — after star forward Ilya Kovalchuk “retired” from the league — the Devils missed the playoffs again, thanks in large part to an absurd 0-13 record in the shootout.

Which is why they were a popular sleeper pick prior to this season, despite a veteran-heavy roster that doesn’t look particularly dangerous on paper.

The Devils play another road game Thursday in Washington before their home opener Saturday versus San Jose.