Brian Boyle New Jersey Devils
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Brian Boyle not only decided to inspire many NHL fans on Hockey Fights Cancer night, he led the New Jersey Devils to victory.

After Thanksgiving, the New Jersey enjoyed a very hectic holiday weekend. The Devils had three games with Vancouver, and Detroit on a back-to-back when they traveled from New Jersey to Detroit and wrapped it up Monday night with Florida.

The first game of the weekend came Friday night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Devils were coming off having points in their last four games, and that streak would continue. The Devils defeated the Canucks 3-2 with all three goals coming in the second period. Taylor Hall, Brian Boyle and Damon Severson filled the net for New Jersey.

Boyle’s goal came on an important night for himself because it was the Devils Hockey Fights Cancer Night. As we all know by now, Boyle is suffering from a form of Leukemia, and he was clearly super emotional after the goal.

The goal came off of a filthy move from rookie defenseman Will Butcher, and it helped the Devils to victory. Boyle said, “It got a little dusty again,” in his postgame interview.

On Saturday, the Devils played their second game of the weekend on the road against Detroit. This was a game I was not expecting the Devils to win. Playing on a holiday weekend, on a back to back, in two different cities, it just seemed like a game they would have lost in years prior.

They went on to win the game 4-3 in overtime, but there was a slight problem.

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All season long the Devils have continually blown regulation wins late in the third period. If you’re milking a two-goal lead with under three minutes left, you need to win that game 99 out of 100 times. The Devils are not doing that right now. If they are going to be a contender in the best division in hockey, they are going to need to close these games out.

Anyway, the win came in overtime on this beautiful goal from Brian Gibbons:

Finally, the Devils most recent game was Monday night. Monday night was about the Devils worst performance so far this season. I can only remember one or two other times they looked that bad so far this season. The Devils were outshot 38-25 and it took them until late in the second period for them to reach 10 shots.

I would not lose my mind after this one for a few reasons. First, the Devils were coming off a long weekend. Three games in four nights is a tough scenario and taking four out of a possible six points is very good in that stretch.

And second, Cory Schneider was very good in this game and has been all season. The third goal from Jared McCann was sort of weak but when the Devils play as poorly as they did, you can’t expect to win. Another positive thing to take from this one was Nico Hischier‘s goal.

The Devils are getting everything they could have wanted and more from this kid so far. At 18-years-old, he already has 18 points in 24 games. In comparison, the second overall pick this past year, Nolan Patrick, has just six points in 16 games via time missed due to injury.

The Devils are off now until Friday when they have back-to-back games against Colorado and Arizona. This is an important road trip for New Jersey because although these are games against weaker teams in the league out west, two points are two points.

 NEXT: Brian Boyle scores first goal since diagnosis 

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Chris Kowalchuk
I'm a Communications Major at St. Thomas Aquinas College and have a passion for sports. My favorite teams are the Devils, Giants, Yankees, Knicks, and Tottenham Hotspurs. I'm excited to be able to share my love of sports on the site.

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