On Tuesday, I discussed a team that's underperforming badly (Vancouver), and yes they came to play for their coach, taking away a 5-4 win.   Today I'll cover the opposite end, and discuss the New Jersey Devils. First stat – they've won their last 10 games and sit atop the Metropolitan Division. But why?

The goaltending has been huge, with team GAA of 2.44 standing 3rd in the league (Vitek Vanacek's is 2.17). Power play, nope – 16th in NHL, just over 20%. Penalty kill, nope – 11th. It's 5-on-5 play, where their goals-per-60 minutes ranks a full 10% above the second-highest team (Boston).  Devils players rank second, third, and fourth in +/- (Hampus Lindholm leads at +18), and SEVEN New Jersey players are +9 or better. Ondrej Palat's return in January will make this team scarier. Sustainable? YES!  Expect to see the Devils playing hockey into May.   

Tonight I'll (again) pass up the team I chronicled – I'll predict the streak ends. I went with Yahoo values tonight – GK Igor Shesterkin ($35 and is not confirmed at time of writing but likely to start), and Tristan Jarry ($31), centers Dylan Larkin ($24) and Nick Suzuki ($19), wings Mark Stone ($21) and Phil 'The Thrill' Kessel facing his old team ($13), along with Jason Zucker ($19), against his past mates. Defensemen Charlie McAvoy ($21) and Josh Morrissey ($17) round out my hodge-podge. The common factor was relatively weak opponents of Seattle, Arizona, Columbus, Anaheim, and the Minnesota Wild without Marc-Andre Fleury.

Good luck – @dokhockey