Winners of 13 straight, Devils hearing cheers from sold-out building
NEWARK » Thirteen wins in a row.
Sixteen wins out of their last 17 games played.
The New Jersey Devils are finally a juggernaut again, after their 5-2 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers at the Prudential Center on Monday night cemented this group’s spot in team history with a franchise record-tying 13th straight victory.
“We’re up there in the history books now, nobody’s going to take this away from us,” said Devils captain Nico Hischier. “It proves that we’re a good team. That we can win hockey games. That we don’t have to hide anymore.”
Only six teams in league history have put together longer streaks — the alltime record is 17 by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins — but none have likely been more unexpected than this one given the context of the recent seasons the organization has put together.
Long story short, they’ve seen all of one playoff round since their Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, including a relatively miserable 27-46-9 campaign just last year that saw them finish seventh in the eight-team Metropolitan Division.
Now? Having put together an undefeated run over the equivalent to nearly one-sixth of the regular season, things are different. Everything is, really. Expectations, the atmosphere at the arena, the way the team is talked about, everything.
For Hischier, who is in his sixth year with the club and hasn’t been to the postseason since his rookie season, the reaction is a relatively simple one. Finally.
“It’s early in the year, and it all settles out for the season, and we’ll face some adversity, but it definitely feels good right now,” he said. “It makes a lot easier to improve on our game, work on our details and try to get even better.”
The Devils have outscored their opponents 61-26 during this stretch, but are not only filling the nets, they’re filling the seats as well. Monday night’s game against Edmonton — even with stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, traditional a hard sell for both the opponent and the day of the week — was a sellout, the team’s third of the year, and the players have taken notice of a different feel around Newark on game day.
“It’s awesome,” said forward Tomas Tatar, who scored one of the team’s five goals on the night.“We feel the support that they’re giving us. They’ve been loud, they get loud during the game if someone makes a nice play, and I think that’s what keeps this going too. They’ve been very helpful, they’ve been very loud, and it’s fun to play in front of them.”
A fanbase that once struggled to even come close to filling its home building packed the house on Monday night, and gave a team that’s given them a record-tying run a standing ovation as they left the ice after yet another win.
Not even a month removed from “Fire Lindy” chants in the very same building, watching the very same team during this very same season, it’s been remarkable for the team’s suddenly beloved head coach to watch unfold.
“I think the team deserves a standing ovation, because really, a run like this is incredible,” Ruff said. “Just the energy in the building, it’s great to see. And I think it lifts you up at the same time.”