These are numbers and stats that are so obscure that you could just scratch your head for weeks over them. Well maybe not, but some of these are going to be quite ugly. Listed for your disapproval or approval below are a series of little facts that we will call “A Cut Above”.
A CUT ABOVE
Did you know that the Devils have as many or less points (18) than wins with five other teams. That includes Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington, and Montreal.
At the 29 game mark, New Jersey is a -35 in goal differential this year. But last year they were a +24. We kid you not.
If Marco Sturm fails his physical (not likely), it would be the first time a player was traded twice only for it to fall beneath the cracks.
So Mark Recchi, at 43, is just one goal away from 600 goals.
The New York Rangers average less than 2 goals a game at home but almost a full goal a game higher on the road.
Have you ever seen all these home teams with under .500 records. We went back and yes this has happened before. 1990-1991 season where 5 teams with records above .600 at this point Strange but true.
Tampa Bay’s team GAA is around 3.50 and yet they are still in playoff position. Remember in the early 90’s this was a lot more commonplace with several top teams in the same predicament and yet they always seemed to win. For the record, Tampa averages a hair over 3 goals a game at 3.07.
The last time two teams averaged under 2.30 goals a game this late in the NHL season was get this….. never (NJ 1.77 NYI 2.19)
So at 18 straight games, Sidney Crosby is on a pretty impressive streak….however the 5 shutout streak of Brian Boucher is still more impressive at the moment.
Lastly, have you ever seen a goalie give up more strange goals this year than Rick DiPietro? Nope that is not the weird stat. The New Jersey Devils have now had 2 home games this year where they gave up two goals in the first 102 seconds or less. The fact that they have happened in the last month has also never occurred in the NHL. Has it happened in the same season? Yes. The Washington Capitals did it five times in the 74-75 season.
Next week we will go even more zany and odd with our facts so stay tuned. One never knows what evil may lurk here. Good night.
