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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The Penguins star center took a heavy hit from Toronto winger James van Riemsdyk late in the third period and didn’t take another shift.

“Just an upper-body injury, kept him out the rest of the game,” Bylsma said after a 5-4 win over Toronto.

The prognosis?

“Don’t have one; he’ll certainly be re-evaluated,” Bylsma said. “In the game it was more precautionary than anything at that point in time.”

Malkin recently returned after missing four games with a concussion.

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Anthony first aggravated the knee in the first half of Monday’s win against the Cleveland Cavaliers and hasn’t been on the floor since.

Woodson said Anthony’s status remains day to day.

The coach said Anthony reported earlier Saturday that his knee is “so-so” after receiving treatment during the team’s morning shootaround.

Anthony’s isn’t the only health issue the Knicks have. The team announced on Saturday that forward Amar’e Stoudemire is scheduled to have a right knee debridement next week and will miss approximately six weeks.

As for Anthony, an MRI taken recently revealed no structural damage, he said. But there has been a fluid buildup in the back of it.

Woodson intimated that the team has no plans to drain the fluid in Anthony’s knee at this point. The Knicks will continue with treatment and will give him time to rest. The team hasn’t taken any further tests on the knee.

“I know he’s getting his treatment and you don’t always have to drain, you can treat and the swelling can go away that way as well,” Woodson said. “We’ve just got to give it time and see what happens.”

When Anthony does return, Woodson hopes to reduce his minutes.

Anthony has played an average of 37.8 minutes per game. He averaged 41 minutes per game in January and 38.8 in February. Woodson would like to play him closer to 35 minutes, his per-game average in November.

After Saturday night, the Knicks will embark on a season-long five-game, seven-day road trip against Western Conference teams.

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The feisty rookie forward — who has five goals and three assists — left Saturday night’s game early in the third period after taking a hit from Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn.

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said Gallagher was already “feeling a lot better,” though he stressed that the club will follow league protocol and make sure he’s fully recovered.

“We never want to put a player’s health in danger,” Therrien said after Sunday’s practice. “When he gets back in the lineup, he will be healthy.”

Under the NHL’s new rules this year, a player who suffers a concussion no longer has to remain inactive for seven days, but must pass a series of tests. Gallagher had one concussion while playing juniors.

When asked whether Schenn’s hit should get a second look by the league, Therrien said it’s not for him to decide.

“I honestly hope that all body checks like this are reviewed,” he said. “I have nothing else to add.”

Gallagher had a goal and an assist against the Flyers before getting hurt, helping the Canadiens to their third straight win, 4-1.

Forward Max Pacioretty, who also left Saturday night’s game after getting cut by a skate as he drove to the net, was treated with stitches and was back at practice Sunday.

Pacioretty has a history of quickly returning from injuries, but he said he wasn’t feeling 100 percent and would see how he felt on Monday before deciding if he can play against Carolina later that night.

Defenseman P.K. Subban, out with the flu, and Gallagher were the only players missing from Sunday’s practice. Subban could also sit out of Monday’s game.

Carey Price, meanwhile, is feeling better after his own bout with the flu, but backup Peter Budaj could still get the start in goal against the Hurricanes.

The Canadiens travel to New York to face the Rangers on Tuesday. Goalie Robert Mayer, called up from Hamilton of the AHL on Saturday to back up Budaj, was sent back down.

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Kiprusoff was injured in Calgary’s 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

Kiprusoff was added to the IR retroactively and is considered day to day with a lower-body injury. Backlund is expected to miss four to six weeks.

The Flames have activated defenseman Anton Babchuk while center Mike Cammalleri remains day to day with a hip flexor and rookie Sven Baertschi is still week to week with a hip flexor.

The team also recalled center Ben Street from the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League.

Street leads the Abbotsford Heat this season with 12 goals and 19 assists in 44 games. He signed with Calgary last summer as a free agent.

Calgary’s next game is Saturday night in Vancouver against the Canucks.

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The 26-year-old had 11 goals and 38 assists in 82 games with the Canucks last season.

Edler has spent his entire career with Vancouver after being drafted 91st overall in the 2004 draft.

He was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.

Edler has 43 goals, 141 assists and 200 penalty minutes in 386 career NHL games since making his debut in the 2006-07 season.

Edler has also been effective for Vancouver in the postseason, with seven goals and 20 assists in 55 playoff games.

The Canucks open the lockout-shortened season Saturday night at home against the Anaheim Ducks.

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A humbled Peyton Manning, with reporters hammering away on deadline and videocameras shut off after the last postgame question had been answered, took his family into the Ravens’ locker room on Saturday night to visit a fellow future Hall of Famer.

Manning eventually found Ray Lewis, according to Ravens media director Chad Steele in a caption accompanying a photograph he posted to Twitter.

“Great moment @ 1.5 hours after the game, Peyton Manning and his family waited to congratulate @raylewis52,” Steele’s tweet said.

Lewis, who will retire after the playoffs to cap a 17-year career, will play on after the Ravens stunned the host Broncos 38-35 in two overtimes, a loss that goes down with the most devastating in Denver history.

“Certainly we did a lot of good things this season, but as of right now, it’s hard to think about anything besides the loss tonight,” Manning said afterward.

Manning did enough in regulation to help his team win, despite the first two turnovers. But he also was not perfect. He wasn’t at his best, whether it was due to the weather or the pressure of leading his new franchise to a playoff win.

“I probably wasn’t quite as good as I wanted to be,” Manning said, “and it probably cost us a couple scoring opportunities.”

On Denver’s second possession of overtime, he stopped and threw across his body to the middle of the field and into the arms of Ravens cornerback Corey Graham at Denver’s 45. Baltimore ran five plays and gained 16 yards before Justin Tucker sailed his winning kick down the middle.

“Yeah, bad throw,” Manning said. “Probably the decision wasn’t great, either. I thought I had an opening, and I didn’t get enough on it, and I was trying to make a play and certainly a throw I’d like to have back.”

Lewis, who led the Ravens with 17 tackles over this nearly 77-minute game in 13-degree weather, kneeled down to the ground and put his helmet on the rock-solid turf when it was over.

“I’ve never been a part of a game so crazy in my life,” Lewis said.

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Wall completed his third straight day of practice with no setbacks Friday. He said he’s feeling no discomfort in his knee.

The former No. 1 overall pick has been sidelined since being diagnosed with a stress injury to his left kneecap in September.

Coach Randy Wittman said he’ll have to keep an eye on Wall’s conditioning during the next few games. Wall said he’s still “getting his legs.”

Without Wall, the Wizards are 5-28 — the worst record in the NBA.

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Jones alluded to two losses — at Seattle in Week 2 and to Chicago at Cowboys Stadium in Week 4, when Dallas’ defense was almost completely healthy — as part of the reasons why he let Ryan go.

The Cowboys lost to the Seahawks, 27-7, but two special-teams turnovers put Dallas into a 10-0 hole in the first quarter. As a defense, the Cowboys were missing only one starter, nose tackle Jay Ratliff, to injury.

In the 34-18 loss to the Bears, quarterback Tony Romo threw five interceptions, with two of those returned for touchdowns. The Cowboys were missing two defensive starters to injury in that game, Anthony Spencer and Ratliff.

“I didn’t like the way we were playing in a lot of cases,” Jones said in the taped interview that will air in its entirety Saturday night on KTVT-TV in Dallas. “I thought we could play better before the injuries, and so I factored that in. It wasn’t like we had a lot of injuries out here when we played Chicago. It wasn’t like we had a lot of injuries when we played Seattle. I didn’t like the way we played there.

“It’s not hard for me to go to those games and say what can we do to improve when we played Seattle and when we played Chicago, and I liked the way we played in subsequent games and I know we didn’t have the talent level on the field that we had when we played Seattle and Chicago.”

The Cowboys played a bulk of the season without five starters and two major contributors to their defense. In the last two games of the regular season, Pro Bowl outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware, who led the team with 11.5 sacks, played with one arm. He was dealing with injuries to his elbow and shoulder and he will undergo surgery to repair a right shoulder injury Thursday.

During the season, the Cowboys never used the injuries to the defense as an excuse, but Ryan noted he had to mix and match personnel because of it.

“When we weren’t short-handed, we were kicking ass,” Ryan said Tuesday night after being released. “We weren’t at full strength ever, but we were pretty damn close and pretty damn good. We were a long way from 31st. If I’m fired on the last six games, that’s OK.”

As a defense, the Cowboys finished 19th overall, 22nd against the run and 19th against the pass.

But Jones was hoping for a much better effort from the defense.

“It’s not hard for me to go back there and say, ‘OK, we had all of our players out there we had our talent level there,’ ” Jones said. “That’s what we’ve been saying we didn’t have. Now let’s evaluate that. When we had all of our talent level, we’ve got to be able to beat Chicago at home and we’ve got to be able to go to Seattle and win that game there.

“We know they’re formidable. We know Seattle had a good football team and I don’t think we underestimated Seattle at all when we played them. But you’re going to have to get to where we want to go and you have to go into Seattle and win games in Seattle.”

Jones also acknowledged that the Cowboys’ poor recent performance against their divisional rivals factored into his decision.

“We certainly do need to not change for change sake,” he said. “But basically we need to look at what we’re doing. I’ve heard it even criticized that maybe we shouldn’t look at the matchups. We play six games in a 16-game schedule against our division, and we need to be successful in that division. We let Washington beat us twice this year, Philadelphia beat us twice last year — so all of those things are under our consideration.”

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Kelly interviewed for five hours with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner before they took a break and had a two-hour dinner. The sides agreed to talk again Saturday night after Kelly’s interviews with the Bills later Friday night and the Eagles on Saturday. The Bills announced late Friday that they had interviewed Kelly.

While sources say Kelly has positioned himself as the favorite to become the next Browns coach, there is no contractual agreement in place. However, the two sides see no significant obstacles that would prevent a contract being completed if they decide to move forward Saturday night, the sources added.

Kelly informed Haslam and Banner that he wanted to “go through the process” by meeting with the Bills and Eagles, something he regretted last hiring season when he only interviewed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to a source close to the Oregon coach.

Haslam and Banner did not object to Kelly’s wishes to meet with those teams.

Kelly said after Thursday night’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl win over Kansas State that he hoped to have the process “wrapped up quickly.”

The 49-year-old Kelly turned down an offer from Tampa Bay last year to return for his fourth season at Oregon, where he is 46-7. He has boosted the school’s national profile with a high-powered offense capable of turning any game into a track meet.

“It’s more a fact-finding mission, finding out if it fits or doesn’t fit,” Kelly said after Thursday’s win of interviewing for an NFL job. “I’ve been in one interview in my life for the National Football League, and that was a year ago. I don’t really have any preconceived notions about it. I think that’s what this deal is all about for me. It’s not going to affect us in terms of we’re not on the road (recruiting). I’ll get an opportunity if people do call, see where they are.

“I want to get it wrapped up quickly and figure out where I’m going to be.”

Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said Kelly’s buyout was upwards of $3 million and that there are five years left on Kelly’s contract, which rolled over with an extra year after Thursday night’s win.

If Kelly leaves, Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich will be promoted to head coach, sources have confirmed to ESPN. That decision was earlier reported by USA Today Sports.

The Browns fired Pat Shurmur earlier this week after going 9-23 in two seasons under him.

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