"There's a wagon rolling down Lafayette Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. The New Jersey Devils have won eight games in a row following Sunday's victory against the Colorado Avalanche. Their current record sits at 8-1-0. They are currently tied for most points in the standings in the NHL (tied with the Utah Mammoth, who have played one more game, entering play on Tuesday)."
"Going into Sunday the Devils had the best special teams in the league. That was calculated by an inaccurate, yet widely used old-time formula, of adding power play and penalty kill percentages. Ken Hitchcock's rule of thumb was that the best teams had theirs add up to over 100. After Sunday's game the Devils sa t at 124.5. Last season, they ended with a 110.9 and ranked top three in the league in both categories."
"If we took away all the power play goal for the Devils during their eight game win streak, would any of them be a guaranteed loss? Their October 13th 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jacket featured two power plays goals and an empty net. That second Columbus goal was in the last thirty seconds of the third so with everything considered those goals were a result of the specific game factors."
The New Jersey Devils have won eight straight games and are 8-1-0, tied for most points in the NHL with the Utah Mammoth. Special teams power fuels the run: using the old sum-of-percentages formula the Devils sat at 124.5 after Sunday, up from last season's 110.9. The Devils ranked top three last season in both power play and penalty kill and continue converting on the man advantage in key moments. Removing all power-play goals from the streak does not produce clear guaranteed losses; examples include a 3-2 win over Columbus and a 3-1 win over San Jose, where empty-net goals also mattered. Their only loss was a 6-3 defeat at Carolina with the game tied late, and Carolina remains a historically difficult opponent.
Read at Puck Prose
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