New Jersey Devils vs Edmonton Oilers
When: 9:00 PM ET, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta

TV: 9 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus (New Jersey), Sportsnet West (Edmonton)
PREDICTION: Oilers 2, Devils 1

Oddsmakers currently have the NEW JERSEY listed as 160-moneyline favorites versus the EDMONTON, while the game’s total is sitting at 5.

EDMONTON, Alberta — Taylor Hall is doing what he was expected to do when the New Jersey Devils acquired him last summer. He’s tied for the team lead in points, even though he’s missed nine games.

Adam Larsson is doing exactly what the Oilers expected of him when he was acquired from the Devils. He’s a solid first-pairing defenceman that Edmonton badly needed.

Really, it’s a trade that is working out for both teams. But, when the Devils visit Rogers Place Thursday night, Hall’s return to the city in which he began his professional career will be the game story.

Hall, who the Oilers selected first overall in the 2010 draft, was traded to the Devils last July for Larsson. This season, Hall has 25 points in 32 games for New Jersey.

Hall had 328 career points in 381 career games as an Oilers, putting him 17th on the franchise’s all-time scoring list.

“For Taylor to come back here, and he obviously had roots here for many years, I’m sure it’s not easy,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “The fans here, the organization, the coaches and even his teammates obviously appreciated all the things he did for us during his time here — and we recognize that and welcome him back. But, when it’s time to play, it’s time to play.”

“He’s a good player, it was tough to see him go,” said Oilers right-winger Jordan Eberle, who has known Hall when he was 10 years old. “But I think we’re better as a team — and he’s doing well there. It will be interesting to see him play.”

When speaking to reporters, Hall, though, spoke about the game in Edmonton not as a standalone event, but as the first of a massive four-game road trip for a team near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

“We’re playing some teams that have some offense, are obviously going to pose a big challenge for us,” said Hall. “This is a road trip that’s probably going to define our season, and make or break it.”

The trip got off to an ominous start. The team’s charter to Edmonton was delayed five hours after the tow vehicle bumped the nose of the airplane the Devils were on.

The Devils go into Edmonton on a three-game losing streak, including a 2-1 overtime loss to the Oilers Saturday at Newark’s Prudential Center. That game was only close because of the play of Devils netminder Cory Schneider, who stopped 41 shots.

“This road trip is about getting our game back,” said Devils coach John Hynes. “We’ve lost three games. … So we have to get some things in order in our game and we have to a better job than we did in the last couple of games to be able to find a way to win games and get points.”

Since Saturday’s win over New Jersey, the Oilers have lost two in a row.

The Oilers can’t afford another slow start. Their two-game losing streak can be attributed to poor first-period efforts. In Sunday’s loss to Ottawa, they were down 2-0 by the 13:43 mark. In Tuesday’s loss to San Jose, the Oilers gave up a goal just 1:39 into the game.

“Not really ready to go, too slow, turnovers, no execution early in the game, then put your foot on the gas and go after a team,” is how McLellan categorized his team’s last two efforts.

So, while Hall’s return to Edmonton will create a buzz at Rogers Place, the Oilers can’t afford to get swept up in the moment and be on their heels for the first few shifts of the game.

On Wednesday, the Oilers recalled center Jujhar Khaira from their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield, Calif., sending center Anton Lander the other way. Khaira had two assists in 15 games with the Oilers in 2015-16.

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New Jersey Devils vs. Ottawa Senators
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 17, 2016
Where: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario

TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus (New Jersey), Sportsnet360 (Ottawa)
PREDICTION: Senators 3, Devils 2

Oddsmakers currently have the Senators listed as 125-moneyline favorites versus the Devils, while the game’s total is sitting at 5.

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators lost their first-line left winger and third-leading scorer when Mike Hoffman was suspended by the league for two games Friday afternoon.

Ottawa will be hoping a guy like Bobby Ryan can pick up the slack when the New Jersey Devils visit Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night for the first of three games between the teams this season.

Hoffman, who has nine goals and 21 points in 28 games, was disciplined for cross-checking San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture in the back of the head Wednesday. That game also saw Ryan, a four-time 30-goal scorer, end a slump at 16 games with his fourth of the season.

“It was a big one I guess, it had been awhile,” said Ryan, one of a number of players whose productivity has taken a hit under the system of coach Guy Boucher. “We’re all frustrated by it, when you’re not scoring, but I think you guys talk about it and write about it and put much more emphasis on it. I don’t worry about it. As long as we’re winning, I don’t care. If I score one goal for the rest of the year and we make the playoffs, and make a run, I don’t care one bit.

“That being said, you hope there’s a domino effect and you can contribute.”

While the Senators (16-11-3) have taken just three of the available 10 points from their last five games, Boucher was pleased with what he saw in the 4-3 shootout loss to the Sharks.

Mike Condon will get the start in goal again on Saturday, while the blue line will be bolstered by rugged Mark Borowiecki, the NHL’s leader in hits who is coming off a two-game suspension of his own.

Meanwhile, the Devils (12-11-6) are also struggling to get some traction. Their 5-2 loss to St. Louis on Thursday was their fourth in a row, a span that has seen them outscored 19-5.

New Jersey’s difficulties have come on the road, where it is 4-10-4 and the only team in the conference with double-digit losses as the visitors.

“It’s a big concern, I mean we’re here to win,” said Devils goalie Cory Schneider. “We’re here to win games and make the playoffs and be relevant here in the standings, and when you go on losing streaks it’s hard to recover. It’s really hard to play catch-up later in the year with three point games, playing against your division all the time.

“It’s really difficult to make up ground, so we have to find a way to put the brakes on the skid and go on a streak of our own. It’s tough to lose three, four, five in a row and survive after that.”

Past history between the clubs favors the Devils, who were 3-0-0 versus Ottawa last season while outscoring the Senators 14-7. New Jersey has won its last three games at Canadian Tire Centre and is 6-2-1 against the Senators since the 2013-14 season.

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New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers
When: 7:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 11, 2016
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New Jersey), MSG (New York)
PREDICTION: Rangers 3, Devils 2

The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils pick up their Hudson River rivalry Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, meeting for the first time since Feb. 23.

These Metropolitan Division foes are headed in opposite directions.

The first-place Rangers won two straight, three of four and already have 19 victories and 39 points through the first 29 games this season.

The Devils, on the other hand, are struggling mightily in all facets of their game the past few weeks. After a surprising 9-3-3 start, New Jersey won three times since Nov. 17, posting a 3-6-3 record. The Devils are in the bottom three in the division with 30 points.

Facing a rival like the Rangers just might be the tonic New Jersey needs at this point to cure some of its ills. It has almost always been the case that the Rangers bring out the best in the Devils, who won three of four games against New York a year ago.

“When you play the Rangers, obviously with the rivalry, it’s always a motivational game,” Devils coach John Hynes said. “We’re going through a tough time right now, but we’ll look to be a better team against the Rangers (Sunday).”

New Jersey struggles on the road, posting a 4-8-4 record away from the Prudential Center. Sunday’s contest is the start of a four-game road trip for the Devils, and part of a stretch in which they play six of nine on the road.

In their most recent road outing, the Devils allowed a season-high 49 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. They followed that up on Friday with their first regulation home-ice defeat this season, 4-1 at the hands of the St. Louis Blues.

“We have to acknowledge why we haven’t played well and make sure we turn this around as quick as possible,” said veteran Devils forward Michael Cammalleri, who appeared in his 800th NHL contest on Friday.

While the Devils lost their last two games, the Rangers earned back to back road victories, 2-1 over the Jets in Winnipeg on Thursday and 1-0 in overtime over the Chicago Blackhawks 24 hours later.

Backup goaltender Antti Raanta started both those games and earned his fifth career shutout Friday in Chicago against his former team. Raanta has been terrific for New York this season, winning seven of his eight starts while posting a 1.83 goals-against average and .939 save percentage in 10 appearances.

However, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault did not commit to a third consecutive start for Raanta on Sunday, nor did he reveal if Henrik Lundqvist would return between the pipes. Lundqvist’s play has been inconsistent as his 2.55 goals-against average and .912 save percentage attest.

“In this league, the way things are now, every team needs two goaltenders to have success,” Vigneault told reporters Friday night. “We’re very fortunate that we have two goaltenders that can do a good job for us.”

The Rangers will again play without three injured forwards Sunday. Mika Zibanejad is out with a fractured fibula, while rookie Pavel Buchnevich has a back problem and Rick Nash suffered a groin strain earlier in the week.

Missing so many important players means the Rangers need others to step up, and that is a key to the Rangers’ success. The latest examples came in the last two games when the struggling Kevin Hayes, who has one point in his last seven games, scored the game-winning goal late in the third period against Winnipeg and defenseman Nick Holden netted the overtime winner the next night in Chicago.

“I like the fact that everybody’s been contributing,” captain Ryan McDonagh said. “For us, it’s about being gutsy, too, competing hard for pucks, and coming out with the two points. And we’ve been doing that pretty consistently all year.”

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New Jersey Devils vs Montreal Canadiens
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, December 8, 2016
Where: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus2 (New Jersey), SN360, RDS (Montreal)
PREDICTION: Canadiens 3, Devils 1

MONTREAL — It’s said that home is where the heart is. For the Montreal Canadiens, it’s also where the wins are.

A .500 team as the opposition, Montreal (17-6-3) has been dominant at the Bell Centre this season, where they’ve won 12 of 14 games and lost for the first time in regulation just a few weeks ago. Now, after a five-game road trip, they kick off a four-game homestand that begins with a tilt against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

The Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues to close out the trip, a point lost after holding a 2-0 lead in the game. But while the team earned half of the 10 points on the table during their road trip, they’re pleased with their efforts overall.

“We wanted to do better and we wanted to come up with that win (in St. Louis) and get that extra point, but all of these games we battled really hard,” Max Pacioretty told reporters after the game. “It’s not always going to go your way. It’s not always going to be perfect. But, we liked the effort every night.”

The Canadiens have been relatively healthy through the first couple of months of the season but lately, the injury bug has begun to take a bite out of the group. After Alex Galchenyuk left the game against the Kings following a collision with center Anze Kopitar on Sunday, the Habs took another hit down the middle when David Desharnais, Galchenyuk’s replacement on Montreal’s top line, went down with an injury of his own.

The team announced Wednesday evening that both would be sidelined for six to eight weeks with knee injuries. If there’s a slight silver lining for the Habs, it would be the recent play of veteran pivot Tomas Plekanec. He scored against St. Louis to put Montreal up by a pair — his first goal in just over a month and second overall — and it was his shot that hit Paul Byron to open the scoring.

The Canadiens made a swap earlier in the day among their younger forwards, re-assigning Charles Hudon to and recalling Sven Andrighetto from the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps.

Montreal also re-assigned defenseman Mark Barberio, who dressed for the team’s last six games. That could open the door for Zach Redmond to make his season debut. Redmond was recently taken off injured reserve after recovering from a broken foot suffered in training camp but has yet to dress for a game. Meanwhile, defenseman Nathan Beaulieu remains on injured reserve.

After a rough go through the second half of November, the early days of December have been good to the Devils. New Jersey won just one of its final eight games last month but has kicked off the final month of the calendar year with two wins and an overtime loss.

Their most recent triumph came in the form of a 3-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks in a game that turned into a chippy affair after a big hit from Taylor Hall led to Canucks defenseman Philip Larsen being taken off on a stretcher.

“I’m looking to make contact there but I never want to see a guy laying on the ice like that,” Hall told the New Jersey Record, while also noting that he tried to keep his arms in and make a chest-to-chest hit.

“I only know how to play the game one way and you’ve got to play it hard.”

Former Canadiens winger Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, who has nine points in 25 games with New Jersey this season, had a weight lifted off his shoulder against the Canucks when he recorded his point, an assist, in seven games. He told the Record he met with coach John Hynes in the morning, who provided the veteran with a “wake-up call.”

“I’m just happy to help the team win, I’ve felt pretty useless the last few games,” he said. “I didn’t get much done. It’s nice to get on the scoresheet and make some plays again. I had a good chat with Hynsie this morning. He was good about it. It was kind of a wake-up call. I think you need it sometimes. Not only about not producing but, sometimes when you’re not producing, you get away from your game and you start looking for other things and you don’t compete as hard. You’re puck watching. You’ve got to get back to basics and I think I did that.”

Hynes announced that Cory Schneider will get the start against Montreal.

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The 37-year-old Zubrus played for the Devils the last eight seasons and was slated to earn $3.1 million this season in the final year of a three-year, $9.3 million deal.

The Lithuanian had 10 points in 74 games last season.

He was drafted by Philadelphia in 1996 in the first round, 15th overall. He played three seasons for the Flyers and competed for Montreal, Washington and Buffalo before joining the Devils in 2007.

Zubrus played in 554 games for New Jersey, scoring 87 goals with 137 assists. He played in 1,243 NHL games, scoring 225 goals and adding 359 assists.

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General manager Ray Shero made the announcement Friday in completing John Hynes’ staff.

The Devils hired Geoff Ward and Alain Nasreddine as assistant coaches earlier this week.

The 50-year-old Terreri has served as goaltending coach since 2009-10, after spending eight seasons in a similar role at the AHL level. He was a member of New Jersey’s 1995 and 2000 Stanley Cup championship teams.

Hynes coached the Pittsburgh Penguins’ AHL team at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before he was hired earlier this month. Nasreddine will lead the Devils’ defense, and Ward will handle the forwards and power play.

Adam Oates and Scott Stevens had served as co-coaches after Pete DeBoer was fired. Oates told the team that he would not be returning, while Stevens’ future with the organization is uncertain.

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The NHL is increasing its popular outdoor games, which in the past had been limited to on or around New Year’s Day. There likely will be six next season.

Toronto and Detroit will meet at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Jan 1, the Anaheim Ducks will play the Los Angeles Kings at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 5 and the Chicago Blackhawks will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field on March 1.

The games at Yankee Stadium were announced Wednesday. A game between Ottawa and Vancouver at BC Place on March 2 also is being planned.

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With a thorough 4-1 victory Sunday, the Broadway Blueshirts took care of both.

Ryan Callahan scored a goal in the opening minute and another in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves as the Rangers eliminated the Devils from the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Callahan provided the lead 34 seconds in, Derek Stepan added a goal in the first period, and Taylor Pyatt snapped a long drought in the second for the eighth-place Rangers, who are inching closer to a playoff berth.

“It’s always nice to beat them,” said Brad Richards, who had two assists. “It was a big win for us. They’re out now, but that’s not why we were playing. We were playing because we need to stay alive. Now we’re down to nine teams, so the odds are better.”

Of the teams behind the Rangers, only Winnipeg can catch them. New York is even in points with seventh-place Ottawa, but the Senators have four games remaining — one more than the Rangers. Winnipeg is three points behind with three games left.

New York has won three straight and is 8-2-1 in its last 11. The Rangers aren’t looking too far ahead. After a trip to Florida and Carolina, they will wrap up their season at home Saturday against the Devils.

“We’re playing our best hockey we’ve played all year,” Callahan said. “Now is the time to do that. We’ve been playing playoff-style hockey the last couple of games. These are must-wins for us. It gives us a dress rehearsal for the playoffs.”

Callahan made it 4-0 at 5:13 of the third with a power-play goal, flipping a shot over sprawled-out goalie Martin Brodeur, who tried to poke away the puck. Brodeur heard derisive chants of “Mar-ty, Mar-ty” throughout and finished with 18 saves.

“It’s difficult to take,” Brodeur said of the elimination. “We’ve competed real hard all year.”

Lundqvist was solid in his 12th straight start, allowing only Andrei Loktionov’s goal with 6:30 remaining. The Rangers had more space between games recently. The extra rest has helped Lundqvist stay sharp.

He told coach John Tortorella he won’t ever ask out of the lineup.

“It’s like the playoffs have been going on for a couple of weeks,” Lundqvist said. “It’s fun to be out there. I don’t want to sit on the bench.”

The Devils won’t get a chance to defend their conference title. New Jersey had won two straight — including 6-2 on Saturday against Florida — following a 10-game skid (0-6-4).

“We pride ourselves on being there every year,” forward Stephen Gionta said. “Unfortunately, we’re not. It definitely hurts. The organization prides itself on winning and being in the playoffs every year. Anything less is a disappointment.”

Madison Square Garden fans serenaded the Devils with chants of “Season’s over” as time ticked down in the third.

“It hasn’t sunk in,” said Devils coach Pete DeBoer, who was ejected in the closing seconds for unsportsmanlike conduct. “You don’t want to think about it until it’s actually a reality. No other word but disappointment.”

The Devils had already been called for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one that cost them a power-play goal, before DeBoer was ushered out.

“A little frustration on my part,” he said. “Two of our players were given unsportsmanlike conducts in an elimination game. The sensitivity of some of the officials is beyond me.”

With a 3-0 lead heading into the third period, the Rangers had all but sealed New Jersey’s fate. New York is 85-0-6 when leading after two periods, dating to Feb. 4, 2010.

The Rangers came out quickly, seemingly motivated to put the Devils away early. New Jersey knocked out New York in last year’s conference finals.

New York connected right away, scoring while Brodeur was looking the opposite way from where the puck was. Carl Hagelin worked to get free from defenders behind the net, and flung the puck in front to Callahan, who was near the left post.

While Brodeur had his head turned away from him, trying to find the puck he thought was behind the net, Callahan nudged it forward off of Brodeur’s skate and into the net for his 13th goal.

“They were waiting for us. We played yesterday,” Brodeur said. “They were able to score the first goal, and that made a big difference in the momentum.”

Game notes

Pyatt played in his 800th NHL game. … Rangers C Brian Boyle missed his third straight game because of a right leg injury. … Volchenkov returned after serving a four-game suspension for elbowing.

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Gregory Campbell scored twice in a three-goal first period, and the Bruins built a four-goal lead and then held on for a 5-4 victory over the reeling New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

The win moved the Bruins (56 points) a point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens in the Northeast Division with nine games to play in the lockout-shortened season. It also put them back in second place in the Eastern Conference, four points behind Pittsburgh, which has played one extra game.

“It’s certainly nice to be there, in first place,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said after his team won for the fifth time in six games. “That was a little bit of motivation tonight. That’s not to say we played a great game, but we accomplished a goal.”

The Devils didn’t accomplish anything in losing their eighth straight (0-4-4). They are four points out of a playoff spot with eight games to go. It’s certainly not what many expected from a team that played for the Stanley Cup last season.

“You know the spot you are in,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “You have two choices. You roll over and die or you get up tomorrow and find a way to turn one win into six or seven or whatever it is going to take.”

To return to the postseason, the Devils need to play a lot better. But so do the Bruins if they are going to make some noise in the playoffs.

This wasn’t their best effort. They stopped playing for long stretches after taking a 4-0 lead early in the second period on Zdeno Chara’s goal.

“The way the game started was very weird, but we capitalized on our opportunities,” said Tyler Seguin, whose third-period goal was the winner. “After going up 3-0, we definitely took the foot off the gas a little bit and you saw what happened. They came back and almost stole one.”

The Bruins scored three times against Martin Brodeur in the opening 8:12. Daniel Paille and Campbell capped the initial outburst with short-handed goals in a 3:21 span.

Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac, Andy Greene and Matt D’Agostini scored against Anton Khudobin (24 saves) for New Jersey, whose losing streak is its longest since 1985-86.

D’Agostini’s goal got New Jersey within one with 37 seconds to play, but Boston didn’t allow another shot.

The first period was the difference, a session that included the sellout crowd of 17,625 booing the home team a number of times and giving Brodeur sarcastic cheers after routine saves.

Not only did the Bruins score three times early, they killed off four penalties, including an early 1:27 two-man advantage. They even had lumbering defenseman Johnny Boychuk miss a penalty shot, or it would have been three short-handed goals.

“Them taking penalties cost us the game,” said Brodeur, who finished with 13 saves. “We didn’t get many chances and they got a penalty shot and scored two goals. That was the big difference in the game.”

Campbell put Boston ahead 70 seconds after the opening faceoff, but it was Jaromir Jagr who did most of the work. The recently acquired 41-year-old controlled the puck between the circles despite being hounded. He eventually got a quick shot on Brodeur, and Campbell pounced on the rebound, sliding it under the 40-year-old goaltender, who was making his 10th straight start.

“We’re clicking a little bit more,” Campbell said. “Either it’s a slow start or a slow finish. Tonight it was a slow second period. We sat on our lead and got comfortable. Give them credit, they worked hard to get back into the game. The onus is on to stay with the game plan, despite the score.”

The Bruins then killed off the two-man disadvantage and Boychuk got his penalty shot just seconds after coming out of the box and being hooked by Marek Zidlicky. Brodeur followed the Boston defenseman’s slow-motion moves and stacked his pads to stop the shot.

It only slowed down the Bruins’ momentarily.

A bad pass by forward Steve Sullivan at the point on another power play set up a 2-on-1 break for the Bruins a little less than three minutes later. Brodeur made the initial stop on Paille, but he swatted the rebound out of the air for his eighth goal.

Campbell got his fourth with a deflection of a shot from the point by Andrew Ference.

“Getting goals, getting points, it’s a good feeling,” Campbell said. “I try to work hard every game. I’ve had a few chances throughout the year. I was happy tonight they went in.

Chara made it 4-0 with a power-play goal early in the second period, but the Devils didn’t give up.

Elias got them on the board with a deflection of a shot by Sullivan, and the momentum seemed to change after Devils’ defenseman Anton Volchenkov elbowed Brad Marchand in the head, drawing a five-minute major and a game misconduct. It left the Devils with four defenseman because Bryce Salvador did not return after being hit in the hand on a shot by Chara earlier in the period .

Instead of putting the game away, the Bruins got lax and Zajac scored shorthanded late in the period to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Greene scored on a slap shot 5:58 into the third period to cut the lead to a goal. But Seguin scored in close off a nice pass by Paille less than two minutes later to give Boston breathing room.

“We battled back,” Brodeur said. “… but nobody is happy about what happened today.”

Game notes

Boston is 12-1-1 when leading after the first period and 17-2-1 when scoring first. … Marchand was wobbly after the Volchenkov hit and he did not return. … The last time the Devils gave up two short-handed goals in a game was against Atlanta in 2006. … The Devils have not won since Ilya Kovalchuk hurt his right shoulder against the Panthers here on March 23. He hopes to return to the lineup soon. … Bruins C Patrice Bergeron (concussion) has started skating and hopes to return soon. … New Jersey recalled rookie goaltender Keith Kinkaid from Albany (AHL) earlier in the day because backup Johan Hedberg was sore.

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Making his NHL debut, big defenseman Jarred Tinordi set up Tomas Plekanec’s tiebreaking goal in the third period, and the Canadiens extended their winning streak to five games with a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

“What a start for the kid,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said of the 20-year-old son of former NHL defenseman Mark Tinordi. “We’re all pleased with the way he played the puck at net. It looked routine out there for him.

“He showed a lot of poise for his age and played very solid. He wasn’t nervous. He saw more ice time because you can see him become more comfortable. He made the right decisions.”

The best decision by Jarred Tinordi was understanding that goalie Johan Hedberg’s clearing pass from behind the net took a bad bounce off the sideboards and was heading to open ice above the left circle. The 6-foot-6 Tinordi skated toward the puck from the right side and let go a shot that Plekanec deflected past Hedberg at 6:49.

“I felt pretty comfortable out there,” said Tinordi, who played 19 shifts and almost 15 minutes just two days after being called up from Hamilton. “I think the nervousness and the butterflies were gone after the first couple of shifts.

“I tried not to think about the way I was playing. I knew we scored on the play. I didn’t realize I got an assist. The boys were pretty happy for me. I was just shooting it to get it on net.”

Hedberg said the goal was the type one would expect to decide a tight-checking game.

`We make that play 20 times a game, and sometimes the puck doesn’t want to go your way,” said Hedberg, who finished with 20 saves. “It came back to them and boom boom, it’s in the net. It was one of those games that comes down to a goal like that, and we were weren’t fortunate enough to get it.”

Colby Armstrong also scored for Montreal, and Carey Price made 32 saves. The Canadiens moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the most points in the Eastern Conference.

Defenseman Peter Harrold scored for New Jersey, which lost for the second time in two nights (0-1-1).

“It’s a tough one to swallow, but their goalie played well and so did ours,” Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk said.

Price was just a little bit better in making Plekanec’s 12th goal of the season stand up. He stopped 18 shots in the third period, including a chest save through traffic on Patrik Elias with 1:24 left and stoning Adam Henrique and Travis Zajac in close in the final minute.

“They put a little bit of a full-court press on us, but our guys battled hard all night,” Price said. “We’re working hard every night, trying to keep things simple. I think that’s the style of play we have to have. We have good teamwork and that’s what’s working for us.

“I think our team is excellent in coming back after I make a save, collapsing on everything I leave out there, cleaning up the trash. We’re sticking to the game plan and that makes it a lot easier.”

Playing for the third time in four nights, the Devils tied it 1-1 on Harrold’s power-play goal at 3:54 of the second period.

With Ryan White off for holding the stick, Kovalchuk intercepted a clearing pass at the right point and slid the puck across the ice to Harrold. The defenseman got a shot off quickly and squeezed it between Price’s pads for his first goal since Dec. 2, 2010 — a span of only 26 games for the journeyman, who has spent much of his career in the minor leagues.

Armstrong snapped a 39-game goal drought, dating to February 2012, to give the Canadiens the lead at 8:08 of the first period.

Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov lost his footing shortly after a faceoff. Armstrong retrieved the puck, skated into the right circle and ripped a shot past Hedberg, who made his career-high 12 straight start in place of the injured Martin Brodeur.

Forward Mike Blunden, who grabbed an early-morning flight after being recalled from Hamilton, appeared to screen Hedberg on the play.

“You have to like the way the young guys played,” Canadiens captain Brian Gionta said. “They came through.”

Goal posts kept both teams from taking the lead during the same second-period penalty. Kovalchuk, who leads the NHL with four short-handed goals, just missed another on a 2-on-1 break while Harrold was in the penalty box.

Lars Eller beat Hedberg about a minute later, but that puck also struck a post.

Game notes

The Canadiens have scored first in 21 of 28 games. … Montreal RW Michael Ryder had his streak of 114 consecutive games played snapped because of a lower body injury. He last missed a game in March 2011. … Devils C Andrei Loktionov, who was hurt Friday against Philadelphia, sat out due to an undisclosed injury. … C Harri Pesonen made his NHL debut for New Jersey. .. Harrold was cut badly on the forehead by a shot in the third period, but returned to the game. … The Devils honored former goalie coach Jacques Caron before the game.

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