Ottawa Citizen

N.J., Vegas are the surprise teams of young NHL season

Devils and Golden Knights winning games thanks to their balanced scoring attacks

- VIN A. CHERWOO

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 6-2-0 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 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.”

One of those things the Devils have been focusing on during their break is cutting down on penalties.

New Jersey is fourth in the league in total penalties (47) and penalty minutes per game (15:00).

The time off is helping players get healthier, too.

Starting goalie Cory Schneider left after the second period of the Devils’ comeback win at Ottawa last Thursday with a lower-body injury but has been skating on his own this week. Palmieri (lower-body injury) has been resting and veteran Brian Boyle has begun practicing with the team after his cancer diagnosis last month.

VEGAS ROLLING HIGH

The expansion Golden Knights are also one of the big stories of the early season as the first team in NHL history to win seven of the first eight games in its inaugural campaign.

“It feels really good,” forward Reilly Smith said. “Obviously, it’s still really early, but we definitely like that record right now and hopefully we can build on it.”

The Golden Knights have also had some scoring balance with 14 players getting goals. James Neal leads with six, Oscar Lindberg has three, and Smith, David Perron, Alex Tuch, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessau­lt and Tomas Nosek have two each.

“If we win, it’s going to be coming from everybody,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “For us to play well and have a chance we have to get balanced scoring from everybody.”

To keep its sizzling start going, Vegas will have to make do with goalies that were supposed to be spending the season in the AHL — Oscar Dansk and Maxime Lagace.

After starter Marc-Andre Fleury, who led Pittsburgh to two Stanley Cup championsh­ips, suffered a concussion on Oct. 13, backup Malcolm Subban went down with a lower-body injury in the third period of the Knights’ win against St. Louis on Saturday night.

Fleury is close to returning to practice, according to Gallant, but Subban is expected to miss four weeks.

Dansk came on and led the Knights to an overtime win over the Blues in his NHL debut, then beat Chicago in his first start Tuesday night. Lagace has not appeared in a game yet.

“We’re definitely being tested right now, with the goalie situation alone,” Smith said. “Every goalie that’s stepped in here so far for us has done a great job. We just have to keep on trying to help them out.”

ON THE DOWNSIDE

The New York Rangers reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last April, beating the Atlantic Division champion Montreal Canadiens in the first round.

Now they’re at the bottom of the conference standings with two wins each.

New York, with its fewest points after 10 games since the 1962-63 season, has given up 15 goals in the first period and allowed the first goal six times.

 ?? BILL KOSTROUN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Kyle Palmieri and the New Jersey Devils have exceeded expectatio­ns through the first eight games of the season, but Palmieri says the team still has “to work on some things and tighten some things up.”
BILL KOSTROUN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Kyle Palmieri and the New Jersey Devils have exceeded expectatio­ns through the first eight games of the season, but Palmieri says the team still has “to work on some things and tighten some things up.”
 ?? JULIO CORTEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Defenceman Will Butcher and the New Jersey Devils are off to an impressive 6-2-0 start this season.
JULIO CORTEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS Defenceman Will Butcher and the New Jersey Devils are off to an impressive 6-2-0 start this season.

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