November's Biggest Moments | THREE THINGS

November was a month of many highs for the Devils who made a statement to the NHL that New Jersey is good and they're ready for a big season. The month kicked off in Western Canada on a three-game road trip for New Jersey and ended against their Hudson River Rivals at Madison Square Garden. Take a trip back to November on this edition of Three Things presented by GEICO.

1. Seven Seconds

A core value players on the Devils share is a never giving up attitude. That drive was apparent in New Jersey's Nov. 4 game in Edmonton against the Oilers. Things were tied up at 1-1 after the opening frame; however, the home team would take a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. The Devils started their push for a comeback early in the third when Miles Wood brought New Jersey within one with his second of the game, but the real magic started in the final four minutes of regulation.
Ryan Graves, assisted by Tomas Tatar and Wood tied the game at 3-3 with 3:15 left on the clock. On the next play, just seven seconds later, Jesper Bratt scored to give the Devils a 4-3 lead late in the game. What went from feeling like a close Edmonton win completely flipped to a visiting team victory. The pair of goals split by a handful of seconds is the fastest consecutive goals this season by the Devils and helped New Jersey continue its winning ways on a Western Canada road trip.

2. 13-Straight Wins

The Devils were rolling in November, as they went 13-1 in one of their busiest months of the 2022-23 campaign. New Jersey also tied a franchise record for longest-win streak with 13 victories. The streak technically started on Oct. 25 with a 6-2 win over Detroit, but 10 of the 13 were in November. The feat was even more impressive when you factor in that seven were road wins and against some top-opponents. New Jersey beat the Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames twice in the streak, and picked up wins over the Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadians and Toronto Maple Leafs.
If you ask the players what worked for them during the historic run, they'll credit playing as one group that stuck to the systems and found a different way to win each and every game. All good things must come to an end and the Devils lost on Nov. 23 to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, after three goals were overturned during the contest. Regardless, the Devils showed they were for real, a true playoff-threat, and a team that could win any night after finishing as one of the bottom teams in the NHL the year before.

3. Hughes' Hat Trick

Throughout the entire 2022-23 season Jack Hughes has shown he's the real deal. Against the Capitals on Nov. 26, the 2019 first-overall pick achieved another milestone: his first NHL hat trick. Hughes' first goal came 5:59 into the second period where he intercepted a pass, drove in on net and scored, giving the home team a 2-0 lead. Three minutes and 20 seconds later, he scored his second of the night to give the Devils a 3-0 lead. With this goal, Hughes shot from a nearly impossible angle, the puck hit off of Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren and went in. The third tally was just shy of 10 minutes into the final frame. Hughes scored off of Erik Haula's pass on a 2-on-1 situation to give the Devils a 4-0 lead and New Jersey's leading scorer his first career hatty.
Hughes following the feat discussed how sweet it was to not only get his first-career hat trick, but against a team that has consistently won against the Devils during Hughes' NHL career.
"For it to come in a win makes you want to enjoy it more," Hughes shared. "That's a great win for us and that's a team that's had our number the last bunch of years, even the start of this year."
The Devils went on to win the game, 5-1, a nice rebound after dropping a 6-3 game to the Capitals at home in October.