Red-hot Devils look to set franchise mark

The New Jersey Devils can't sneak up on teams anymore.

The once-laughable alsorans have gone from a team that has missed the Stanley Cup playoffs nine of the past 10 years to currently the NHL's hottest team.

Coach Lindy Ruff's young, basically no-name crew beyond top picks Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes tied a franchise record Monday night, beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 for their 13th consecutive win. The mark could fall tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs at home.

“It's something I don't even want to talk about because I don't want to jinx it,” Ruff said. “But I know we're finding a lot of different ways to win, a lot of different personnel and I think the important part is it really has been about the team. In any given time, somebody has come up big for us, scored big goals, big saves and special teams has played a big part of that.”

The Devils' other 13game winning streak came in 2001, a year New Jersey lost the Cup Final in seven games to Colorado. The 13game run is tied for the fifth longest in NHL history, four shy of the record set by Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993.

The previous time the Devils lost was a 6-3 setback to Washington on Oct. 24.

Since then, they have outscored opponents 56-24, averaging 4.31 goals and 35 shots. They have swept two roads trips through Canada, beating Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa twice in the run and Montreal and Toronto once. They also have a win over the reigning champion Avalanche.

New Jersey's 16-3 record is second best in the league to the Boston Bruins' 17-2 mark.

SABRES 7, CANADIENS 2 >> Jeff Skinner scored two goals and had three assists for visiting Buffalo. The Sabres led 4-2 heading into the third period, then scored three times. Cole Caufield and Sean Monahan scored for Montreal.