Devils, Nico stay red hot

With a little assist from Lady Luck, the New Jersey Devils and Nico remain one of the NHL’s hottest teams. Playing in four games this past week, the Devils secured three ultra-tight wins over the Edmonton Oilers (4-3 SO), St. Louis Blues (5-4 OT) and NY Islanders (5-4 OT) before closing out the week with a decisive 4-0 decision at Toronto on Sunday night.

With 26 points through 18 games, the Devils currently sit in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division and 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. Individually, Nico collected four more points last week, while recording nine shots on goal. He averaged 18:23 minutes of ice time per game and prevailed in 53.2 % of his faceoffs. He finished the week with an even plus-minus rating, while also recording the 500th point of his NHL career on the assist before Timo Meier’s first goal in Toronto.

Next up for New Jersey is a third consecutive road game, as they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Tuesday night (7 PM EST), before closing out the week with a home-and-away series vs. the Washington Capitals. The Devils will first host the Caps on Thursday night, before traveling to the nation’s capital for a rematch on Saturday. Both of these games have a 7 PM EST starting time.