Bruins aim to extend point streak vs. sputtering Devils
It took the New Jersey Devils almost two months to build their second three-game point streak of the season. All they have to do to extend it to four games Tuesday afternoon is record a point against a team already in pursuit of its third 10-game point streak of the campaign.
The Devils will look to continue their recent solid play when they host the Boston Bruins in a New Year's Eve matinee between a pair of Eastern Conference teams in Newark, N.J.
Both teams were off Monday following one-goal wins on Sunday. Rookie Jack Hughes scored on a breakaway 54 seconds into overtime to lift the visiting Devils past the Ottawa Senators, 4-3, and the host Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2.
The three-game point streak (2-0-1) is the first for the Devils since they collected points in four straight games (2-0-2) from Oct. 30 through Nov. 5. New Jersey went 7-14-1 in-between point streaks, a stretch in which head coach John Hynes was fired and replaced on an interim basis by Alain Nasreddine.
The Devils lost their first five games under Nasreddine but are 4-2-1 in the last seven. It's probably too late to save the season for New Jersey, which has the second-fewest points in the NHL, but the recent uptick has at least raised the spirits of Nasreddine's players.
"I think we have more belief in our locker room," Hughes said following Sunday's win. "The team's playing better, for sure, and we're hungry for points right now. We want to climb in the standings. We're not happy where we are."
Few teams are better positioned than the Bruins, who will enter Tuesday with a 10-point lead atop the Atlantic Division. Boston's current seven-game point streak (4-0-3) is just its third-longest of the season following a 13-game run (9-0-4) from Nov. 10 through Dec. 5 and a 10-game streak (8-0-2) from Oct. 12 through Nov. 4.
The win over the Sabres on Sunday was particularly encouraging for Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, who was able to teach a lesson and get the win at the same time. The tie-breaking and game-winning goals were scored 18 seconds apart early in the third period by the recently benched Jake DeBrusk, who sat the final 11:08 of the first after failing to block a shot.
"It's a privilege to put on the Bruins sweater every night," Cassidy said. "You might not have your 'A' game. But you've got to bring your 'B' game to help the team win and be a good pro. That's a little bit of the message between periods. I didn't think there was enough of that of late. It wasn't always necessarily tonight. But it kind of festered itself tonight. We delivered it, moved on."
The Bruins will be short-handed Tuesday. Defensemen Connor Clifton and center David Krejci were both injured Sunday and will not play Tuesday. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Monday after taking a hard hit against the Washington Capitals on Dec. 23. Fellow defenseman Torey Krug, who also suffered an upper body injury against the Capitals, is already on the IR.
