Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The New Jersey Devils get the not-so-lucky fortune of playing six of their first seven games on the road to open the 2013-14 season. After dropping the season opener on the road to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils hosted the New York Islanders and lost 4-3 in a shootout. New Jersey must now embark on a five-game road trip that starts tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. During the trip, they will play all Canadian teams as they will play the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and the Ottawa Senators.
This is an area in which the Devils have to get better this year if they hope to have any success. Last year during the condensed season in which they only played 24 games on the road, New Jersey only won six of those games. That was one of the reasons why New Jersey finished 11th in the Eastern Conference and had to watch the playoffs from home. The Oilers are the only winless team on the schedule for New Jersey. The other four teams have a combined six wins already on the young season.
As is usually the case the Devils will be relying on Martin Brodeur to secure the first win on the road. Brodeur played in the home opener against the Islanders and got the Devils to overtime. Unfortunately for him and the Devils it wasn’t enough to get the victory, but they will look to reverse that tonight in Edmonton against the winless Oilers. It’ll be important to get the win tonight. Ask the Philadelphia Flyers what happens if you lose too many games to open the season. I’m not saying the coach is in danger, but I would suggest not playing with fire.
Greg Higgins is a NHL contributor for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greghiggins457
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