The New Jersey Devils remain one of hockey’s hottest teams after a 3-2 victory over Calgary on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center.
The victory moves Jersey to 10-3 on the season, and is New Jersey’s seventh straight victory — matching the franchise’s longest winning streak since 2011. New Jersey is only two points behind the Boston Bruins (11-2, 22 points) for the best record in the Eastern Conference, and trial only Las Vegas (12-2, 24 points) by four points for the best record in all the NHL.
Nico Hischier provided the game winning goal when he ripped a slapshot past Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom to give the Devils a 3-2 lead with 8:10 to go in the game.
CAPTAINS LEAD AND SO DO WE! pic.twitter.com/QvgBgMU9ca
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 9, 2022
“I mean it wasn’t pretty for sure. It wasn’t our best game,” Hischier said. “I think we didn’t have our legs in the first period, to be honest, was embarrassing. But we found a way and came back and in the end, if you’re going to win those games, it’s huge.”
Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Graves both scored second period goals as the Devils erased an early 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead.
Calgary would tie the game at two when Tyler Toffoli scored his fifth goal of the year on a powerplay at the start of the third period.
The victory comes as the Devils didn’t exactly play their best game, getting outshot by the Flames 35-20. Meaning a lot of credit goes to the Devils defense and goalie Vitek Vanecek, who continues to dazzle in net. Vanecek recorded 33 saves in goal on Tuesday, improving his record to 6-1 as a starter, and lowering his Goals Against Average to 2.18.
The victory also completes a season sweep for New Jersey over Calgary. The two teams met in Canada on Saturday with Jersey coming away with a 4-3 win in Overtime.
