There aren’t many trophies the Devils haven’t won in their 27 years in New Jersey.
From Stanley Cups to Jennings Trophies (fewest goals) to Calder Trophies (rookie of the year), they have a packed trophy case. But one award that has eluded them is the Presidents’ Trophy, awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in the league. Going into last night’s action, the Devils sat just one point behind the Capitals — with two games in hand — for the league’s best record, and part of the reason is the team’s ability not to lose multiple games in a row.
The Devils have had just two losing streaks all season, and each brought on a winning streak. With winning streaks this season of three, three, eight, three and four, they will try to make it two straight tonight against Montreal (7:00; MSG Plus, WFAN 660 AM).
“In this organization, we do not tolerate two losses in a row,” winger Niclas Bergfors said. “The games we lose, the next game we are absolutely ready from the beginning. Like last time, after losing against Florida. I think everybody knows that the pressure is on ourselves to put in a better effort.”
After losing to the Panthers on Friday in former backup goalie Scott Clemmensen’s homecoming, the Devils responded in a big way the next day versus the Flyers with three goals in the game’s first 16 minutes en route to a dominant 4-1 win. The previous loss — 5-2 to the Canucks on Dec. 2 — was followed by a four-game winning streak.
“You never want to lose two games in a row,” defenseman Andy Greene said. “When you have a bad game, you forget about it, learn from it, and move on. You get in trouble when you start losing multiple games in a row.”
Bergfors and Greene are among the reasons the Devils (22-8-1) are off to a franchise-best start. Bergfors is second in the league in rookie scoring with 11 goals and 22 points (trailing only the Islanders’ John Tavares), and Greene, with 17 points, is almost outscoring the rest of the defense corps combined (23 points).
Though he is in the running for the Calder Trophy, Bergfors would not admit it.
“It’s too early for stuff like that,” he said. “I just try to play my game the best I can like I always do. I don’t put more pressure on myself.”
Only seven teams have won the Stanley Cup and Presidents’ Trophy in the same season in the 23 years since its inception. The Devils have never won the Cup as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, losing in the first round three times and in the Finals once.
⇒Martin Brodeur gets his third shot at breaking the all-time shutout record tonight. Brodeur, who leads the NHL with 21 wins, is 35-15-5 lifetime with a 1.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts against his hometown team.
“It’s one of those things that you let happen naturally,” Greene said. “Maybe when it gets down to the last few minutes, we might think about it a little more, but throughout the game you let the game unfold and see what happens.”