It’s the one small blot on their season, but it’s the one now facing the Devils.
They have built their league lead on Eastern Conference domination, a whopping 28-8 after last night’s 1-0 shootout victory over the Rangers at the Garden.
Yet they stand only 4-3-1 against the West, a small sample to be sure, but something they’ll try to improve when they visit Phoenix tomorrow and Colorado Saturday.
“You have to win in your own conference. That’s the bottom line,” Bryce Salvador said. “Those are the teams you’re going to face the most, and we tend to have more success against teams we see more often.
“We prepare the same way, but we know them better, and there’s more intensity. When it’s a team you only see once a year, that comfort feelings isn’t there.”
This two-game whirlwind tour will be their only games this season against the Coyotes and Avalanche. They have lost to the Blackhawks, Stars (1-1), Predators (shootout) and Canucks, one-third of their losses this season, in only 2/11th of their games.
Their record against their own conference is the best in the league, trailed by Chicago’s 22-10-3 Western mark.
“You have to take care of the people around you before you take care of others,” Martin Brodeur said.
“Everything counts more inside the conference. They’re trying to get ahead of you and you’re trying to get away from them.”
The Devils are likely to be watched closely on this western trip, especially their ability to handle speed, in case there’s an Achilles’ heel to be discovered.
The Devils have won the first two stops on this season- longest five-game road swing, which opened with a 2-1 overtime triumph in Montreal Saturday. After returning from the west, they visit the Isles Monday afternoon.
After opening the season with nine straight road victories, the Devils had cooled away from home, but now have won three straight on the road, 7-4-1 in 12 since that 9-0 road start.
Neil Smith, GM of the 1994 Cup champ Rangers, makes his coaching debut tonight for his ECHL Johnstown Chiefs, visiting the Trenton Devils. . . . Devils’ power play has been zipped in its last 10 tries over three games, scoring only four goals in nine games. . . . Zach Parise and Travis Zajac have accounted for the last six Devils goals . . . Jersey had been held to two goals or less six times in its last 10.