Thirteen is a lucky number for the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils tied the longest winning streak in franchise history Monday night, when five players scored a goal apiece in a 5-2 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers in Newark, N.J.
Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, Damon Severson, Tomas Tatar and Yegor Sharangovich scored for the Devils, whose 13-game winning streak ties the mark set by the 2000-01 team — which reached the Stanley Cup Finals — from Feb. 26 through Mar. 23, 2001.
It is also tied for the seventh-longest winning streak in NHL history and the longest winning streak since the Florida Panthers won 13 straight from Mar. 29 through Apr, 23, 2022.
Goalie Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves.
Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers, who have alternated losses with wins in their last seven games. Goalie Stuart Skinner recorded 23 saves.
Bratt opened the scoring with a power play goal just 2:25 after the opening faceoff when he went to one knee, took a pass from Nico Hischier and firing a shot past Skinner’s glove.
Draisaitl was credited with the game-tying power play goal with 6:58 left in the first, when his shot clipped off the stick of the Devils’ Brendan Smith — who’d sprawled on the ice to try and block the puck — and fluttered past Vanecek.
An untimely turnover by Skinner next to the Oilers’ net led to the easy go-ahead goal for the Devils 5:15 into the second. Skinner barely got a piece of the puck as he tried to send a clearing pass off the boards. Hischier pounced and fired a shot that caromed off the far post before Mercer skated alone into the crease and put home the rebound.
Severson capped an end-to-end rush by firing a shot past the extended stick of Cody Ceci and over Skinner’s stick shoulder just 3:30 later.
The Oilers mounted a surge early in the third and pulled within a goal at the 4:52 mark, when Nugent-Hopkins put home the rebound of a shot by Ceci that glanced off Severson.
Nugent-Hopkins nearly tied the score a little more than two minutes later, when his shot sailed just over the top of the net. The Devils doubled their lead on the next trip up the ice following an impressive play by Tatar, whose first shot was deflected by Skinner. Tatar caught the carom, put the puck down and beat Skinner at 7:07.
Sharangovich added an insurance goal with 5:15 remaining.
–Field Level Media