G19 New Jersey Devils vs Edmonton Oilers: Lucky No. 13?

Vitek Vanecek is back between the pipes as the Devils look for their 13th win in a row.

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A few things to watch as the New Jersey Devils try for their 13th consecutive win(!) against the Edmonton Oilers:

Hit the ground running

The Oilers are notoriously slow starters; at least they have been in the early going of this campaign.

Through 18 games they have conceded 20 1st period goals, which is more than all but five teams. For added perspective, the Buffalo Sabres sit last in 1st period goals against and they’ve allowed 22. The Oilers are right there.

Despite all the firepower the Oilers possess, they haven’t been all that great at erasing early deficits. Dating back to last season, they’ve won 11 of 40 games when trailing after 20 minutes.

We know this Devils team can defend. They rank 2nd in high-danger chances against/60 during the winning streak despite spending the majority of their time playing from ahead.

By and large, that defensive success stems from an unwillingness to take their foot off the gas.

While leading, the Devils rank 1st in the NHL with a whopping 63% share of the expected goals at 5v5. That is nothing short of remarkable.

This is all a long way of saying that if the Devils can get ahead early, their prowess defending leads – coupled with the Oilers’ struggles coming from behind – will go a long way towards earning yet another two points.