Seven wins in a row! It’s nothing but good times in New Jersey as the Devils tied the mark for their fifth-longest win streak in franchise history.

Friday night, at Prudential Center, the New Jersey Devils hosted the San Jose Sharks in a contest between two teams that are in very different competitive places. The result was a 3-1 victory for the Devils that was harder fought than expected. 

New Jersey started Jake Allen in net and the veteran made 16 saves on 17 shots faced, including one on a late third-period breakaway. Meanwhile, on the back end of a back-to-back set that saw them best the Rangers in overtime on Thursday night, San Jose started their number one goalie, Yaroslav Askarov, who made a number of stellar saves and stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced. 

The young guns were out in force in this one, with both sides boasting some highly skilled kids. Of course, Macklin Celebrini came into the game riding high, having recorded a hat-trick and four total points against the Blueshirts on Thursday. Will Smith is also off to a hot start with eight points (two goals, six assists) in seven games, including the overtime game-winner against the Rangers. On the other side, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier are now considered veterans, but the latter two are still only 27. And joining Jack in the 24 Club is rookie winger Arseny Gritsyuk, who had five points in his first seven games. 

The Garden Staters entered the contest having successfully killed off 21 consecutive penalties, an impressive streak and proceeded to watch it end just 2:24 into the game. Nico Hischier was sent to the box for tripping Jeff Skinner 1:11 into the game and then, 1:13 into San Jose’s power-play, William Eklund broke off a wrister from the bottom of the right face-off circle that flew past Allen for the streak-busting goal, 1-0 Sharks. 

New Jersey went to the power-play a little over six minutes after Eklund’s goal, courtesy of an Adam Gaudette hooking penalty and had a great chance to tie the game, only to be denied by an incredible save by Askarov. Hischier was wide open at the right side of the net. He received a cross-ice pass and fired on goal, but Askarov went post-to-post, laying out and getting his blocker on the shot. 

With 44 seconds left in the opening period, Dmitry Orlov tripped Timo Meier to send the Devils to their second power-play of the game. The power-play carried over to the start of the second period, where, with 40 seconds gone by in the middle period, a goalmouth scramble led to the puck landing on Dougie Hamilton’s blade. New Jersey’s veteran defenseman promptly fired the puck into the net to tie the game 1-1. 

“There’s no easy games,” said Hischier. “You still gotta find a way to win and obviously we didn’t start great, but came back in here, took a couple deep breaths and came out another team. From then on, I think we were definitely the better team and deserved those two points.”

A minute later, San Jose’s Alexander Wennberg was sprung for a breakaway, Simon Nemec tripped him at the end of the play, but Jeff Skinner poked in the loose puck for the apparent go-ahead goal. Then, the Devils successfully challenged the goal, claiming the play was offside. However, Nemec was then sent to the box for his tripping infraction, landing New Jersey on their second penalty-kill of the game. 

On the penalty-kill, The Garden Staters got back to their successful penalty-killing ways, preventing the Sharks from getting much of anything going. Then, at the 7:21 mark of the middle period, Jeff Skinner hooked Dawson Mercer, sending the Devils to their third power-play of the game. 1:47 into the power-play, after Jack Hughes danced around San Jose’s zone with the puck, Hamilton, once more in the slot, ended up with the puck on his blade and fired the puck into the net for his second power-play goal of the game to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead. 

“First one, I just creeped in and kind of got a loose puck,” Hamilton explained. “Second one, it’s not like a set play or anything, but you can read off guys and obviously Jack is unreal, just trying to get open for him and saw some space.”

Just 3:26 after Hamilton’s second goal, Vincent Iorio put the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty and 56 seconds later, Vincent Desharnais cross-checked Stefan Noesen to give the Devils a five-on-three power-play for 1:04. New Jersey put together a couple of quality chances but were ultimately denied each time and headed into the second intermission with their 2-1 lead.

“I think we obviously could have had a couple more goals on the power play,” Hischier quipped. “But if we keep playing that way, they’ll go in and we got two, so it was good enough for today. I think we just read off each other pretty well.”

As the cherry on top for New Jersey in the second period, they held San Jose without a single shot on goal for the full 20 minutes. It was the first time since January 6, 2017, against the Toronto Maple Leafs that the Devils turned that particular defensive trick. New Jersey actually lost that game 4-2. 

“Definitely a tough first period,” said Hamilton. “I mean, for myself, I was pretty bad. We had good luck on the power-play at the end of the period and then started off on the power-play and I think that kind of just turned the momentum on for us. Then a few more power-plays and stuff. It was ugly first period and not our best game, but good goalie and power-play, I guess, wins this game.”

Connor Brown was sent to the box 1:35 into the third period for hooking Wennberg. On the penalty-kill for the third time in the game, the Devils held the Sharks to just two shots on goal and successfully killed off the penalty, making them two-for-three in the game. A successful kill on Timo Meier’s slashing penalty against Timothy Liljegren at 7:41 of the third period brought the Devils to three-for-four on the penalty-kill on the night. 

Jake Allen came up with a handful of key saves late in the third period, including one on a Colin Graf breakaway, to preserve New Jersey’s slim lead. Then, with 46.6 seconds left in the third period, Connor Brown scored the empty net goal to give the Devils a 3-1 lead and seal their seventh consecutive victory. 

“That’s what contending teams, consistent teams do, is winning,” explained Allen. “When you’re not your best, it’s physically impossible to have a great 82 games. I don’t care what people say; it’s physically and mentally impossible. But to be able to keep yourself in games when you’re not feeling the best, that’s a skill that takes time to learn. It takes time to understand what you need and what you don’t need. There’s gonna be times where the guys don’t feel good on the ice. Those games when you’re in net and you don’t feel a million bucks, but that’s when you simplify things and find ways to get it done. I think that just shows a lot of growth.”

Next up is a Sunday matinee against the Colorado Avalanche and it’ll be a chance for New Jersey to try and extend their streak to eight straight wins.