New Jersey Archives - Sports Al Dente

Devils aim to extend Golden Knights’ losing streak in Newark

The Vegas Golden Knights will try to prevent their longest losing streak in nearly three years when they face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in Newark, N.J.

The Golden Knights, who are second in the Pacific Division behind the Edmonton Oilers, have lost four games in a row (0-2-2) for the second time this season and have dropped 11 of their last 14 games (3-8-3). Vegas has not lost five straight games since March 8-15, 2022, which was the only season in franchise history that the Golden Knights missed the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Vegas is playing the third game of a four-game eastern road trip and comes off a 2-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday. Despite allowing only 14 shots on goal—matching the fewest in franchise history—and putting 34 shots on Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, the Golden Knights couldn’t secure a win.

“It’s tough,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “I thought we played good. I think giving up 14 shots, throughout the season, a lot of times you’re going to be on the better end. We just didn’t get it inside enough. We whacked away, but it’s something we have to really focus on. We have two games left before the break and we have to be better.”

Brock Nelson scored the game-winner on a deflection of an Alexander Romanov shot midway through the third period.

Vegas has lost six of its last seven road games and scored just four goals in their last three games.

“All of these games are pretty tight, just got to find ways to bury more pucks,” center Nicolas Roy said. “You’re not going to win a lot of games on the road when you score one goal. We’ve got to find a way to score more goals.”

New Jersey, third in the Metropolitan Division, has won four of its last six games and comes off a 3-2 shootout victory against Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Jack Hughes scored two goals, Timo Meier netted the winner in the seventh round of the shootout, and Nicolas Daws made 25 saves for the Devils, who are just two points behind second-place Carolina heading into Thursday’s game.

New Jersey led 2-0 midway through the second period but gave up goals to Rickard Rakell late in the second period and Kevin Hayes midway through the third, leading to the shootout.

“I liked our game and what we did to build the 2-0 lead to begin with,” Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It would have been nice to get the third one or not give up the one at the end of the second. Lots of resilience. Guys were battling, guys were tired, through overtime, through the shootout. … All in all, it’s a good two points.”

“We would have liked a different third period to secure us this win in regular time,” Meier said. “But at the end it doesn’t matter how you win. We got two points. Now we go back to New Jersey, we regroup after this game. We’ve got two more before the break, and we want to end those two games with a win.”

Improving Penguins gear up for key division stretch against Devils after attending Jets-Steelers NFL game

The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to extend their recent success when they play the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

The Penguins have won two straight games, while the Devils have a 4-4-2 record in their last 10 games.

After struggling to score just one goal in three consecutive games, the Penguins have started to find their offense again, scoring three goals in each of their last two wins.

Sidney Crosby has been a key player for Pittsburgh, scoring in each of the last four games.

When talking about the Penguins’ 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday, Crosby credited the team’s effort, saying, “Just moving the puck. I thought our ‘D’ did a really good job getting it to the forwards and if they couldn’t make the pass, they skated it themselves or they got it deep.

It was pretty simple, it’s not always easy to execute that consistently and I think the (defensemen) were really good at just taking the play that was there, and then our forwards were on pucks and winning battles, which is a big part of it.”

Crosby also added an assist in that game, giving him four goals and two assists during his four-game point streak.

Before Saturday’s win, the Penguins had not won back-to-back games since Dec. 17-19. They are 7-10-3 since that streak ended.

The Devils have struggled recently, losing two of their last three games, including a 4-3 defeat to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday. They were down 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 after the second, but made a strong third-period push that came up short.

“We put ourselves in that position early,” said Paul Cotter, who scored the Devils’ first two goals Sunday. “Normally when a team gets a lead like that, it’s pretty hard to come back. I think as the game went on, we got a little bit better, but our start needs to be a lot better.”

New Jersey is missing captain Nico Hischier, who is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who will be out for four to six weeks due to a lower-body injury.

In Hischier’s absence, Jack Hughes has stepped up, earning points in five straight games (three goals, three assists). Goalie Jake Allen has taken over as the starter, with a 2-2 record and a 2.72 goals-against average.

The Devils have had the upper hand on the Penguins recently, winning eight of the last nine matchups and outscoring them 38-17.

Tuesday’s game begins a key seven-game stretch for the Penguins, with six of those games against division rivals. Pittsburgh is currently seven points behind the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. After facing the Devils, the Penguins will play the Philadelphia Flyers three times, the New York Rangers twice, and the top-ranked Washington Capitals once.