The New Jersey Devils will try to stretch their winning streak to seven games when they host the San Jose Sharks on Friday evening.
The Devils are riding their longest winning streak since a 13-game run Oct. 25-Nov. 21, 2022, which tied a franchise record.
New Jersey is coming off wins on back-to-back nights at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (5-3) and against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday (4-1).
The Devils have also beaten last season’s Stanley Cup finalists, the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, in consecutive games.
“We’ve done it on the road. We’ve done it at home. We’ve done it on a back-to-back now. We’ve had three different goaltenders, lots of different things happening,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. “All that stuff hasn’t phased us, the guys have just stayed with it.”
Arseny Gritsyuk, a fifth-round draft pick by the Devils in 2019, scored his first NHL goal on Wednesday in his seventh game. The 24-year-old Russian also has four assists this season.
“First he comes over here and he’s billed as a big scorer and a shooter and all of that, and he shows us his passing side,” Keefe said. “The more time that passes here, this is like a complete hockey player.”
Dawson Mercer, who has played all 82 games for New Jersey the past four seasons, is also off to a good start, totaling three goals and four assists through seven games.
Keefe gave an update on center Cody Glass, who was injured midway through the win against Toronto. He finished the game, but sat out against Minnesota.
“We don’t expect it to be anything too long term, but we’ll just have to see how it settles in the next few days,” Keefe said.
The Devils have killed 21 straight power plays after owning the second-best penalty kill unit in the NHL last season (82.7).
Meanwhile, San Jose ended a six-game losing streak (0-4-2) to start the season with a 6-5 overtime road win against the New York Rangers on Thursday.
Will Smith scored 1:38 into overtime to lift the Sharks, who got a five-point night from young star Macklin Celebrini. The 2024 No. 1 overall pick notched his second hat trick and collected his second assist of the night on Smith’s winner. Smith’s OT tally capped his impressive four-point night (two goals, two assists).
“That’s what (Smith) does best,” Celebrini told reporters after the game. “He’s a pretty special player. You’ve seen him before, the kind of plays he’s able to make. I was just on the receiving end of a couple of those.”
Smith, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 draft, deferred to his linemate on the winning play.
“It was all Mack,” Smith said. “He made a great play in the corner and stripped a guy and found me in the slot.”
Celebrini leads the Sharks with 11 points (five goals, six assists) in seven games, followed by Smith’s eight points (two goals, six assists).
Alex Nedeljkovic made 22 saves against the Rangers, meaning Yaroslav Askarov is likely to start Friday after he and Nedeljkovic rotated starts for the first seven games.
The Sharks made a bold move when they acquired the 23-year-old Askarov from the Nashville Predators on Aug. 23, 2024. Askarov had only played in two NHL games to that point.
Askarov — 0-2-1 this season — went 4-6-2 in 12 starts last season with a 3.10 goals-against average and .896 save percentage.
–Field Level Media
