Devils, Golden Knights off to surprisingly strong starts

After finishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference last season, the New Jersey Devils have been among the NHL’s surprise teams.

The Devils have been atop the Metropolitan Division for most of the opening weeks and are 62-0 for their best start since beginning with the same record 15 years ago.

“Our team’s played extremely hard,” coach John Hynes said. “I thought we’d come out of training camp ready to play.”

New Jersey, seeking its first playoff appearance since losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, has been doing it with a balanced effort. Six players have three goals each, and four others have two apiece. Taylor Hall and rookie Will Butcher lead the way with nine points each, and Kyle Palmieri and Nico Hischier — the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft — both have seven.

“So many positive things over the last couple of weeks,” Hynes said.

Following an opening stretch in which they played eight games in 14 nights — capped by a shutout loss at home to San Jose last Friday — the Devils are on a bit of a break and don’t play again until hosting Ottawa this Friday. After going into their rest first in the division, they’ve been passed by two-time defending champion Pittsburgh.

Palmieri doesn’t want his team to dwell on its strong start and knows there’s room for improvement with a long season still ahead.

“It’s been a good start for our group,” he said. “But time to put it to bed. We have an opportunity ... a week to work on some things and tighten some things up.”