NEWARK, N.J. _ The Devils carried over their pre-holiday break momentum.
And then, they did everything to try and give it away.
The Devils, after taking a two-goal lead in the first period, held on for a 3-1 victory over the Red Wings on Wednesday night at Prudential Center after the NHL's three-day Christmas break.
The Devils (22-9-5), extending their season-high winning streak to five games and their overall streak to 6-0-1, remained in first place in the tight Metropolitan Division race.
But to stay there, the Devils had to kill off five power plays for the Red Wings (13-16-7), including two in the third period, before getting their only two man advantages of the game late in the third period.
The Red Wings, who, per NHL holiday break guidelines, could not travel to New Jersey until Wednesday morning, dropped the last three games of their four-game road trip and are 3-8-5 since Nov. 19.
But after falling behind in the first period, the Red Wings spent much of the rest of the game winning puck battles and pinning the Devils in their own zone.
Cory Schneider, making a season-high seventh straight start, stopped 31 shots while Jimmy Howard made 29 saves for the Red Wings.
But the game wasn't clinched until Sami Vatanen's empty-net goal with 22.9 seconds left in regulation.
Their mini-vacation over, the first task for the Devils as they continued a season-high six-game homestand that concludes Friday night against the Sabres was to immediately resume playing the way they were before the break.
"Yeah, absolutely," defenseman Steven Santini said. "I feel we were kind of finding our game over the past six or seven games, just playing the right way. After a break like this, it's important to get right back into it and pick up where you left off."
Wednesday's game was the start of a stretch of six in 12 days _ a four-game road trip opens Saturday at Washington _ that leads into the Devils' NHL-mandated bye week. The Devils, after hitting their 41st game, the midpoint of their season, will be off Jan. 8-12.
They had also played six games in 12 days prior to the holiday break.
"I do think it came at a good time," Devils coach John Hynes said. "We were playing very well but we had lots of games at that time. So I think anytime you can get some rest and the fact that we went into it feeling good about our game and confident, it makes you feel better."
The Devils were methodical in their early dominance, taking the game's first six shots and 11 of the first 13. In addition to their 13 first-period shots, the Red Wings blocked an addition nine attempts.
Hischier made it 1-0 at 15:16 of the first period, getting low in the left circle to deflect Santini's shot from the left point after defenseman Damon Severson turned Niklas Kronwall's giveaway into a quick transition rush to Taylor Hall.
Hall set up Hischier's one-timer from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 18:22 of the first period.
Hischier, who also scored twice in a 5-4 overtime win at Ottawa on Oct. 19, had gone 12 games without a goal, dating to Nov. 27.
The Red Wings had a much stronger second period, scoring the lone goal to cut the Devils' lead to 2-1 at 8:09 as Justin Abdelkader connected on a wrist shot from the right circle.
And Hischier's hat trick was three penalties, holding Tomas Tatar at 15:50 of the first period, tripping Darren Helm at 10:35 of the second period and high sticking Dylan Larkin at the Red Wings' crease at 16:45 of the second period.
