The New Jersey Devils have not been kind to the country of Canada early this season.
On Thursday night, the Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-3 in overtime. After William Nylander scored the game-tying goal with 2:09 to play in regulation it was Yegor Sharangovich who played the hero scoring the overtime winner for the Devils 11th straight win.
Seven of their last eight opponents have been against Canadian teams, which also coincided with the Devils current 11-game win streak. On Thursday it was the turn of the Toronto Maple Leafs to experience Devils Hockey and while it wasn't high-octane, it doesn't have to be in a Devils game.
If we've learned anything about this group over the last stretch it's that they've been capable of winning games in multiple ways.
"To have that resilience," Nico Hischier said of the response to the game-tying goal, "that mindset that now we have to come back and have another one to win this game, just great to see. Guys stepping up and doing the job, it's what good teams do.
"Mindset change, tie game. It's all open now," Hischier continued. "We need another one to win, I think everybody understood that and you could see we came out in OT and had them in their zone right away."
The win tonight solidifies not only the 11th straight W's, the longest win streak of the year in the entire NHL.
"Just a pleasure," captain Nico Hischier said "it's just fun right now. Just pure happiness, I guess. The whole bench was is excited. We're just running away right now. Keep improving, but we're playing well, so we've just got to fix some little things, try to get better as a team but a lot of good things are doing right now."
Backstopped by Vitek Vanecek, in 9 of the 11 victories, the Devils hit 11 straight for the first time since Mar. 28. 2006 to Apr. 18, 2006, and also marks the first time in head coach Lindy Ruff's career that he has been behind the bench for an 11-game win streak, his previous high set in 2005-06 was 10 games with the Sabres.
Full of Belief, Devils Win 11-Straight, Down Maple Leafs | GAME STORY
Devils string together longest winning streak of the NHL season, defeating the Maple Leafs
