MONTREAL _ With Keith Kinkaid getting starts on back-to-back nights yet again, much of the focus was on him and his workload coming into Sunday's game against the Montreal Canadians. But Kinkaid's legs looked fresh as he stopped 25-of-26 shots. Maybe it was the skaters' legs we should have been more concerned about, because the Devils looked lifeless throughout most of Sunday's 2-1 win at Bell Centre.
But it was Taylor Hall, the emotional leader and scoring leader, who got the job done for New Jersey yet again. Hall's shorthanded goal with 4:07 left in regulation helped the Devils avoid overtime and a long plane ride home.
The win helps the Devils further solidify their place in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings. They're now solidly in the second spot ahead of the Florida Panthers by a margin of seven points and one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers.
The key moment came with 6:15 left in regulation with the two teams knotted at 1. The Devils couldn't change and were whistled for too many men on the ice. Ben Lovejoy gave the Habs a two-man advantage after tackling Brendan Gallagher in the crease.
But Hall was in the right place at the right time.
The puck skipped back to the blue line where a waiting Hall took it down and beat goalie Carey Price with ease for his 37th goal of the season.
It looked as though both teams were skating through quicksand through most of the game. It's the time of the year where sometimes games can feel like a slot. Even when the effort level is there, the results seem harder to come by.
The Devils had few high-grade scoring opportunities through the first two periods and went 0-for-4 against the league's worst penalty kill.
The power play had been clicking as of late, with the top unit having scored with the man advantage in each of the last three games. But against Montreal, they got too fancy and the plays were too forced. Coach John Hynes tried to spark the team by changing the line combinations several times in the second period.
In the end, he went back to the tried-and-true top line trip of Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri and it worked. Hischier netted the equalizer when he got a stick on Sami Vatanen's point shot 26 seconds into the third period.
Hischier now has 51 points on the season to tie him with former Devil and current Anaheim Duck Adam Henrique for the franchise record in single season points by a rookie.
David Carr put the Habs up 1-0 on a power play goal with 8.4 seconds left in the first period. Michael Grabner had an open look at a short-handed goal on the other end but he hesitated and his shot was blocked by Mike Reilly.
The puck came back to the blue line where Artturi Lehkonen picked it up and dished it to Carr at the edge of the left circle. Carr's shot went off the crossbar and behind Kinkaid and Hynes immediately challenged the goal, saying Carr was offside. But the goal stayed on the board after a review and the Devils then had to kill off another penalty as punishment for losing the challenge.
