Big December Starts Tonight For The New Jersey Devils

The Devils play 15 games in December, matching their high for any month this season (they also play 15 in March).

Of those 15 games, 10 of them are at home, the most in any month for their ‘09-’10 campaign.

The Devils have now won six in a row at home, after starting the season 1-4 on home ice. Looking over their home schedule for the month, it’s very possible for the Devils to go at least 7-3 at home before the new year.

The December home schedule includes (with records as of 12/2):

Tonight vs Vancouver—14-12-0 (4-8-0 on the road)

Friday vs Tampa Bay—10-7-8 (4-5-4)

Saturday vs Detroit—13-9-4 (5-5-2)

12/9 vs Carolina—5-17-5 (0-10-3)

12/11 vs Florida—10-12-4 (7-6-1)

12/12 vs Philadelphia—13-10-1 (5-6-0)

12/16 vs Montreal—12-13-2 (5-7-0)

12/18 vs Ottawa—13-8-4 (3-5-1)

12/28 vs Atlanta—14-7-3 (8-2-1)

12/30 vs Pittsburgh—19-9-0 (10-5-0)

As you can see, only three of those 10 teams (Pens, Thrashers and….the Panthers? Really?) have winning records on the road, but the Panthers are a beatable team at home.

Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Philly will likely be the toughest home games in December. Of course, you can pretty much pencil in Carolina winning their first game on the road against the Devils because, well, that’s what the Devils do.

Their road schedule for the month is a bit tougher (at Buffalo, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Chicago), so it would be very nice to see the Devils continue their recent success at home right through the new year.

The Devils also play four sets of back-to-back games during December.

With Johnny Oduya, Jay Pandolfo and Rob Niedermayer all coming back from injuries in the next few games, the team should only get stronger as the month goes on.

December should show all Devils fans exactly what this team is capable of, but I have a feeling that they will continue to show us that they are a playoff calibre team…with as good a chance as any other team in the league to go all the way.