Devils score five in 1st period against Senators
Coming into Thursday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators, the New Jersey Devils had been averaging 2.19 goals per game. Only one team in the entire NHL has scored at a worse rate this season, but hockey can be a pretty funny game sometimes.
The poor Senators probably didn’t know what hit them when the Devils took the ice at the Prudential Center. Over a span just shy of 11 minutes in length starting at 6:53 of the first period, the Devils managed to score five times.
It all started with a tip-in goal by rookie Joseph Blandisi. Just over a minute later, Kyle Palmieri continued his incredible season with a goal and then added another at the 11:23 mark. A few minutes later, Travis Zajac got in on the goal-scoring act to make it 4-0.
Watch the first four goals in just over a minute here:
Zajac’s goal chased Senators goalie Craig Anderson, who was replaced by Andrew Hammond. It didn’t take the Hamburglar long to give one up, either. Lee Stempniak sprung for a breakaway and beat Hammond to make it 5-0 late in the period.
Here are five key numbers you need to know about that crazy five-goal outburst:
10 – The number of shots the Devils took in the first period. So, yeah, they scored on 50 percent of their shots on net.
4 – Points scored by Travis Zajac, who assisted on each of the first three goals before scoring the fourth himself. That goal was Zajac’s first since Nov. 6. He is the first player to have four points in a period since 2013 according to NHL PR and is only the second Devils player to do so in the franchise’s history.
Per @EliasSports: Travis Zajac (1-3—4) is 2nd in @NJDevils history w/ 4 PTS in 1st period of a game (Patrik Elias: 1-3—4 on 12/20/00 vs DAL)
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 22, 2016
1 – Joseph Blandisi scored the first goal of the game, but it was also the first goal of his NHL career. He also notched two assists in the period, which matched the number of helpers he had coming into the game. The 21-year-old rookie was playing in his ninth NHL game Thursday. Not a bad night for the kid.
.429 – Senators goalie Craig Anderson’s save percentage after giving up four goals on seven shots. Ouch.
20 – Goals Kyle Palmieri has scored this season after netting two Thursday. This is the first 20-goal season of his NHL career. Did we mention that the team that traded him last summer – the Anaheim Ducks — is the only team that has scored at a lower rate than the Devils this season?
The Devils took it to Craig Anderson and the Senators in the first period. (USATSI)
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