Road trip from hell

Just imagine what’s going to happen when the New Jersey Devils start winning at home.

The Devils, who started the season with consecutive losses in their home rink, are 8-0-0 on the road and have won five straight. However, they remain a game under .500 with a 3-4-0 record in their own building.

Coach Jacques Lemaire has New Jersey playing the kind of sound defensive hockey everybody expected when he returned east to once again coach the team he guided to a Stanley Cup in 1995.

Zach Parise is driving the offense with seven goals and 17 points through 15 games. Center Travis Zajac, meanwhile, continues his progression and is nearly a point-per-game player (13 in 15) to start the year.

A franchise that’s always about the collective ahead of individuals will have to suck it up and celebrate some isolated achievements as GM Lou Lamoriello enters the Hockey Hall of Fame Monday in the builders category, while all-world goalie Martin Brodeur is just one shutout from tying former Wings great Terry Sawchuk for the all-time lead at 103.

The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.

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