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 Canadiens earned their third straight win Saturday night when Brendan Gallagher and Rene Bourque each had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 victory over the sagging Philadelphia Flyers.

The win came a week to the day after a 6-0 whitewashing by Toronto at the Bell Centre.

Defenseman Josh Gorges said the club did right to forget that defeat and focus on the games ahead.

“I thought the way we handled that game, with (Erik) Cole getting the guys together, guys talking and coming back to work the right way. … You can lick your wounds and feel sorry for yourselves and point fingers, but instead of doing that we decided to look in the mirror, and be accountable and get better,” Gorges said. “We had a good week.”

The Canadiens rebounded with a 4-3 shootout win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday night and a 1-0 overtime win over the Panthers in Florida on Thursday before putting away Philadelphia.

“It was important to bounce back,” coach Michel Therrien said. “We got better each game. I like how we competed. I couldn’t ask for more.”

David Desharnais and Tomas Plekanec also scored for the Canadiens, while backup Peter Budaj got his first win in three starts this season while filling in for Carey Price, who was at home sick. Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta each had a pair of assists.

Daniel Briere had the lone goal for the Flyers, who have lost three of their last four and looked tired and listless as they were outshot 29-19. The Flyers had only seven shots when Briere scored more than halfway through the second period.

Captain Claude Giroux’s concern with his team’s flat play was evident when he spoke after the game.

“There’s no compete,” he said. “We’re not winning battles.

“We’re just going through the motions. You know, we’re a young team that can skate. We should be winning more battles than this. It’s just frustrating to see. I know I have to be better, but a team is 20 guys and you need everybody to show up.”

Brian Boucher started in place of Ilya Bryzgalov and had little chance on the Montreal goals.

“Sometimes there are games where you go out there and see how it plays out,” Boucher said. “You don’t want to play the game that way. You want to be on the attack, on the balls of your feet. Maybe that was the case tonight.”

It may have been a costly win for Montreal, which has been healthy since the start of the season except for center Petteri Nokelainen’s back injury.

Gallagher left four minutes into the third period after he was checked into the boards by Luke Schenn, and Pacioretty exited the game after crashing either an elbow or his ribs into a goalpost after being hauled down by Kimmo Timonen at 11:52.

Therrien said both players had upper body injuries and would undergo tests to determine the extent of the problems.

Later, forward Colby Armstrong took a puck to face and went for treatment. And then defenseman Alexei Emelin struggled to the bench after being checked from behind by Giroux, although he stayed in the game.

The Flyers were coming off a 5-3 loss to New Jersey on Friday night. They were outshot 12-2 in the opening period but Boucher kept them in the game.

Gallagher got his fifth of the season at 8:53 after taking a feed from Pacioretty and putting a nifty move on Timonen before scoring on a low shot.

Gallagher and Pacioretty combined again to feed Desharnais alone in front 1:15 into the second frame.

Defenseman P.K. Subban made a sprawling save after Budaj misplayed a puck behind his crease, but the shutout was broken moments later when Briere put a shot in off Andrei Markov’s leg at 13:56.

Plekanec got his seventh of the season 4:32 into the third as he took his own rebound off defenseman Braydon Coburn and fired it past the sprawled Boucher.

Bourque was credited with an empty-net goal at 18:56.

Game notes

Goalie Robert Mayer was called up from AHL Hamilton to back up Budaj. … Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin, hit on the face by a puck in the preseason, has traded in his face cage for a visor. … Ryan White, Yannick Weber and Tomas Kaberle were scratched for Montreal. The Flyers sat out Kurtis Foster, Herry Zolnierczyk and Tom Sestito.

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Julien moved rising star Tyler Seguin onto a unit with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, and it produced the tying and winning goals on its first two shifts as the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Wednesday night.

“We needed to create more scoring chances because we didn’t have many in the first two periods, so we tweaked the lines a bit and the guys responded well,” Julien said. The Bruins improved to 7-1-1 and maintained their hold on first place in the Northeast Division.

“That Krejci line’s been awesome for us but (Wednesday) they weren’t able to generate much, so I said, ‘Let’s move guys around here and give them a little spark,’ and it worked out,” Julien said. “Look at Siggy driving the net on that first goal.”

Seguin sneaked in front to take a pass from Krejci and lift it over Carey Price to tie the game only 14 seconds into the third period.

The speedy young center then slipped the puck to the left wing on a rush, and Lucic fed it in front. The onrushing Krejci got there just before Montreal center Tomas Plekanec and tipped it in at 2:05.

P.K. Subban scored his first goal of the season on a second-period power play for Montreal, which was shut down by Tuukka Rask while outshooting Boston 11-4 in the first.

The Canadiens (6-3-0) had their five-game home winning streak was snapped.

“We played well in the first period, but starting in the second, we kind of backed up,” said defenseman Andrei Markov, who picked up his ninth point in nine games. “We stopped playing our game.”

Boston outshot Montreal 23-22.

The Canadiens play Thursday night in Buffalo before facing the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Julien called it the best game so far this season for Rask, who has built a 6-1-1 record as the starter while veteran Tim Thomas is on a self-assigned sabbatical.

Rask stopped Lars Eller on a breakaway 10 minutes into the game, and got a break in the second when Plekanec was in alone but lost control of the puck and shot it into the corner rather than at the net.

“He’s had the right attitude,” Julien said of his goaltender. “With the high expectations, he’s just doing his job.

“He’s a normal goaltender, which might be a surprise to a lot of people,” he said. “But he’s so easy going. There are no issues.”

The Krejci, Lucic and Nathan Horton line has been Boston’s best this season while Seguin went into the game in a slump with only one goal in the first eight games.

“I was feeling snake bitten, but I’m glad one went in and we pulled this one out,” Seguin said. “I feel I’ve been playing decently.

“I had a couple of goals called back. Things weren’t going in. But we got it going in the third,” he added.

The Canadiens did not allow the Bruins a shot on goal until the game was more than 11 minutes in, but solid saves from Rask kept it scoreless.

Subban broke the deadlock at 10:53 of the second with Lucic serving a high-sticking penalty.

The flamboyant defenseman took a pass from Markov, and saw his point shot go off Rich Peverley’s stick and past Rask. It was Subban’s first goal and third point in three games since he ended a holdout by signing a two-year contract.

The goal drew big applause from the Bell Centre crowd as Subban did the leg-lifted “Joel” pose in celebration.

It ended Boston’s string of 16 straight penalty kills to start the season.

Game notes

Price left the ice in a hurry during pregame warm-ups after he was hit in the groin area by Lars Eller’s shot, but was OK to play. … Prospect Blake Geoffrion, who fractured his skull in an AHL game at the Bell Centre during the lockout, says he feels better and will be examined by a doctor in Montreal on Thursday to see when he can resume training. … Montreal scratched Tomas Kaberle, Ryan White and Yannick Weber. … Boston was without Brad Marchand, Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille because of injuries.

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