It has been a long time since the Devils strung four or more wins together. Will the drought end this season?
January 16, 2023.
Do you remember what you were doing on that date? I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t, that was 2 1⁄2 years ago after all. I can tell you what the New Jersey Devils were doing though: They were putting the finishing touches on their fifth consecutive win, a 4-3 shootout victory in San Jose over the Sharks.
On that day, current Pittsburgh Penguin Ryan Graves opened the scoring for New Jersey just 29 seconds into the game. Future highest-paid Devils forward Timo Meier scored for the Sharks, as did another current Penguin, Erik Karlsson. After a Nico Hischier goal, the now-retired Nick Bonino put the Sharks ahead with a third-period tally. Then in the dying breaths of regulation, with New Jersey down a goal, Jack Hughes scored with 10 seconds left on the clock to send the game to overtime. After a scoreless 3-on-3 period, EV Zug’s latest addition, Tomas Tatar, potted the lone shootout goal for either side to give the Devils the win.
Just look at that rundown again. Other than New Jersey’s franchise centers, every other player who scored that day is either no longer with the team they scored for, or is out of the league entirely. The winning goalie that day was Vitek Vanecek, while James Reimer took the loss for San Jose, both players long gone from the Devils and Sharks respectively. The winning coach, Lindy Ruff, is now in Buffalo, while the losing coach, David Quinn, is back with the Rangers as an assistant. I could go on, but you get the point. It was a long time ago.
But why exactly am I making the point that this game was a long time ago? Because that is the last time the New Jersey Devils put together a winning streak of four or more games.
It has been 2 1⁄2 years since then. For a team with as much talent as the Devils, that is completely unacceptable. You’d think that they would’ve at least fluked their way into a four-plus-game heater since that time, but nope, they have never been able to keep a winning streak going past three games. Not the rest of the way in 2022-23, not at all in 2023-24, and not at all last season despite qualifying for the playoffs.
The only other team that has not had a four-plus-game winning streak since the Devils had their last one was, fittingly, the Sharks. San Jose won their first four games of the 2021-22 season, and nothing since. Yes, even teams as awful as the Blackhawks, Ducks, and Sabres have had four-plus-game streaks more recently than the Devils. Pathetic and impressive all at once.
It’s the heart of the offseason, so today, let’s have some fun. Now that the 2025-26 regular season schedule has been released, many of you might be wondering, is there a four-plus-game winning streak somewhere in there? I just had to find out for myself. So I grinded in the lab, ran the calculations, held extensive peer reviews, consulted my astrological charts, and interviewed several highly-credentialed experts in the field of winning streaks. And all that work paid off, as not only can I now tell you that there will be a winning streak of at least four games in 2025-26, but I can tell you exactly when it will occur. And I am pleased to share the results of my tireless work with you good people today.
Let’s get to it:
Are There Any Extended Road Trips?
One of the first things I asked myself in the quest for a four-plus-game winning streak was if there were any stretches of four or more games in a row on the road. This was vitally important considering how much worse the Devils have looked on home ice over the last few seasons:
2022-23:
Home record: 24-13-4 // Away record: 28-9-4
2023-24:
Home record: 17-21-3 // Away record: 21-18-2
2024-25:
Home record: 19-17-5 // Away record: 23-16-2
So if we’re looking for spots in the schedule where an extended winning streak is possible, it certainly can’t be one where there are a lot of home games. It’s not like we need to avoid home games entirely, as the Devils are obviously capable of winning at The Rock from time to time. But we at least need a majority-road-game spell.
So the optimal spot for a four-plus-game winning streak would logically be a road trip of four or more games. Are there any of those? There are. In fact, there are a whopping five such stretches:
October 28 – November 2: @COL, @SJS, @LAK, @ANA
November 12-22: @CHI, @WSH, @TBL, @FLA, @PHI
January 6-12: @NYI, @PIT, @WPG, @MIN
January 19-25: @CGY, @EDM, @VAN, @SEA
March 18-28: @NYR, @WSH, @DAL, @NSH, @CAR
On the surface, this might seem like a lot to work with. But another issue emerges…
Avoiding Back-To-Backs
Over the last two seasons, New Jersey has been abysmal during the second half of back-to-backs. It was a major storyline during the 2023-24 season, and it was not exactly solved last year despite the return to the playoffs. Over the last two seasons, the Devils are a combined 6-19-3 in the second game of back-to-backs. It makes sense that performance would suffer in these situations, but not to this extent. This goes beyond just the normal dip in production that comes with fatigue. I don’t know what explains it, but it’s officially a thing now.
So when hunting for a four-plus-game heater, we really need to avoid back-to-backs. A stretch that ends with the first half of a back-to-back would be fine, but that’s about it. As Chris wrote about in his piece breaking down the Devils’ schedule, New Jersey has been saddled with 15 back-to-backs, so any stretch with one of those is out.
And unfortunately, this includes three of the five road trips listed above. The trips from November 12-22 and March 18-28 are the ones that don’t involve any back-to-backs, so perhaps those are workable. But that leads to yet another issue…
Unfavorable Opponents
It happens in every sport: For one reason or another, certain matchups heavily favor one team over the other. For example, New Jersey has dominated opponents such as the Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, and Vancouver Canucks in recent times. There doesn’t really seem to be any rhyme or reason for this, it’s just a random matchup that the Devils have controlled.
But of course the opposite is true too, as there are plenty of teams the Devils have seriously struggled against over the years.
Two of those teams would be the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. While it has not been complete domination by those two teams (except for the 56-game 2021 season in which Washington somehow won all eight games in the matchup that year), New Jersey has really struggled against them in recent times. So considering both of those teams factor into that road trip from November 12-22, we can toss that one out.
What about the other one? Surely the Devils avoid the Capitals and Lightning during their trip in March, right? As a matter of fact, they do not. They miss the Lightning, but they do draw the Capitals during that stretch again. They also visit the Hurricanes, who we all know the Devils struggle with, especially in Carolina. So that trip is probably out as well.
Favorable Opponents
What about the opposite end of the spectrum, the teams New Jersey has played really well against in recent years? I mentioned the Penguins, Canadiens, and Canucks in the last section. Those are the teams that have probably been the best matchups for the Devils lately. Can we find any strings of games that include them?
Well the Devils’ first game against Pittsburgh this year is on November 8. But that’s the middle game of a three-game homestand, so considering the home struggles we talked about above, that game is probably out. The next matchup is during one of the road trips I already listed as not being ideal (January 8), the February 26 game is surrounded by too many home games and a back-to-back, and the April 9 contest has too many home games around it too. Can’t have that!
What about Montreal? The first game against the Habs (November 6) occurs after the Devils’ long west coast swing in late October/early November. The game comes on the heels of a back-to-back and it also kicks off a homestand, so that’s out. The final two games against Montreal are actually a home-and-home on April 4-5. That, of course, is a back-to-back, so that’s not an option either.
But while we’re on the subject of the Penguins and Canadiens, I do have to acknowledge a very tantalizing span of games in November. After New Jersey returns home from their west coast swing (the final game of which is the second half of a back-to-back), the Devils open up a three-game homestand on November 6. They play the Penguins, Canadiens, and Islanders at home, then their first game of the following road trip is against the Blackhawks. Now THAT sounds like a four-game winning streak to me. Four incredibly winnable games, two of which come against favorable matchups, and another of which comes against a dismal Blackhawks team. But alas, I simply cannot trust the Devils to win three home games in a row. If I had to guess, I’d say they could win the games against the Penguins and Habs, but lose the Islanders game. So while that might be a good choice on paper, I can’t quite get there myself.
Then there are the Canucks, who the Devils have beaten 16 of the last 20 times they’ve played them, including a ridiculous 12-game winning streak from 2014-15 to 2021-22. Unfortunately, one of the games against Vancouver is part of a back-to-back, and the other is part of one of the road trips mentioned above. Sadly, they’re out too.
An Unexpected Victory
This one is a bit arbitrary I admit, but I feel as though if the Devils are going to unexpectedly win four games in a row, it will need to include an unexpected victory.
What exactly qualifies as an unexpected victory? That’s going to vary from person to person, but I think we generally know it when we see it. Do you remember that weird two-game “series” in Florida against the Panthers last season? The Devils somehow won both of those games. I distinctly remember the vibes around these parts being elation over how unexpected it was to get four points out of those games.
Do you remember that wild game against the Golden Knights back in 2023-24? The one in which the Devils went up multiple goals, then went down multiple goals, then came back and won it in overtime when Tyler Toffoli finished off a hat trick? That was a wild, unexpected one too.
I’m not going to rattle off every single unexpected win from the past few seasons, but I think you get the idea. There are plenty of victories that seemingly come out of nowhere every season. If they Devils are going to end this silly winning streak drought, I have a funny feeling it will involve a rather unexpected win.
The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For
And so, we have our general criteria. We need a road-heavy stretch that does not involve teams the Devils have struggled against recently. We really need to avoid back-to-backs. We need favorable opponents. And we need at least one unexpected victory. So where can we find a stretch like that?
Behold:
December 17-23: @VGK, @UTA, vs. BUF, @NYI
Let’s begin with the fact that three of these games are on the road. Since we already established that we can’t find a workable stretch of games that are entirely away from home, three out of four is the next best thing. First criteria met.
Next, we need a run of games that do not include teams the Devils have truly struggled against. None of these teams really qualify, though the Islanders have been a bit of a tougher matchup. But the Devils have lost eight of 14 games against the Isles since 2021-22, so I wouldn’t call it a true hammer and nail matchup like the ones against the Capitals or Lightning. One more win and it’s a perfectly reasonable .500 mark against New York. Second criteria met.
Then we need to avoid back-to-backs. Check. We also want at least one favorable matchup. Well the Sabres are a team the Devils have played well against for years now. While not a Canucks-level domination, New Jersey is 8-4 against Buffalo over the past four seasons, so it’s definitely a matchup that tilts in the Devils’ favor. And if you really want to count them, New Jersey did sweep the season series over Utah last year. Another check.
And finally, we want a win that would qualify as unexpected. I’d say the opener of that stretch would count. The Golden Knights are a tough team. They have been ever since they entered the league, and they figure to be in 2025-26, especially after adding Mitch Marner to their roster. Vegas has given New Jersey some truly horrible moments in recent times. Yes the Devils did pull off that great win against them two seasons ago, but the year before that, New Jersey somehow lost in Vegas in a shootout while outshooting the Knights 50-27! Adin Hill stole that win from the Devils in devastating fashion. Then just a few short months ago, New Jersey’s season effectively died on the Vegas strip when Jack Eichel sent Jack Hughes shoulder-first into the boards, causing another injury for Hughes and ending his season. The Devils have gotten some wins against the Golden Knights in recent seasons, but they have not won IN Vegas since 2021-22.
Add it all up, and you get the first four-game winning streak since January of 2023. Lock it in now, I can see the future.
Final Thoughts
I know this entire article is very tongue in cheek, and it was fun to “research” the perfect spot for a four-game winning streak. But I will say that it’s genuinely frustrating to me that the Devils have not been able to rattle off any long winning streaks over the past 2 1⁄2 seasons. Maybe they used up all of their winning streak magic on that 13-game bender early in the 2022-23 campaign, who knows.
Regardless of if New Jersey actually does hit four wins in a row over the stretch I predicted or not, I just want at least one four-plus-game heater this upcoming season. Not because there’s something specifically meaningful about a four-game streak, but just because a team that can only win up to three games in a row is generally going to struggle to find success. We saw this in 2023-24, and we almost saw this in 2024-25. Thankfully the Devils built up enough of a cushion in the 2024 part of the schedule to fend off the rest of the Metropolitan Division down the stretch, but it was still too close for comfort.
In any case, what do you make of the Devils’ struggles to chain wins together? Looking at the schedule, where do you think the elusive four-plus-game winning streak will finally happen? Or do you think we get yet another season without one? As always, thanks for reading!