At the 9:34 mark of the first period, New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier was swarmed by his team for an on-ice celebration after he opened the scoring against The Utah Hockey Club on Saturday night.
Nov 1, 2024; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier (13) skates with the puck during the warmup period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
The captain’s 25th goal of the season would be the first of three goals the Devils scored in their 3-1 victory over Utah. Timo Meier and Curtis Lazar scored in the third period, while young goaltender Nico Daws made 24 saves on 25 shots.
“Right from the drop of the puck tonight, I thought each line on their first shift, you could tell they were digging in a little extra harder tonight,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said to NJD.TV. “It was a carryover from our practice yesterday. I thought we had a really good practice yesterday, and the guys recognized that these are two points we wanted to have, and they went out and played a good sound game.”
That opening goal was Hischier’s 400th career NHL point. Per Devils Pr, he required the seventh-fewest games played in franchise history to reach the milestone.
Per NHL Pr, Hischier “became the sixth Swiss-born player to reach the 400-point milestone, alongside Roman Josi (724), Nino Niederreiter (472), Kevin Fiala (466), Mark Streit (434), and Timo Meier (420). Hischier (507 games played) is the fastest among that group to reach the mark, upending the benchmark of 543 games set by Fiala.
The Devils will be back in action Sunday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. Puck drop is at 8:00 p.m. Fans can watch on MSGSN or listen on the Devils Hockey Network.
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