Hall scores short-handed, Devils rally to beat Canadiens

MONTREAL » Taylor Hall scored a short-handed goal late in the third period to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.

Nico Hischier tied the score early in the third and Keith Kinkaid stopped 25 shots in his sixth consecutive start for the Devils. New Jersey increased its lead to seven points on Florida for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Devils, vying for their first trip to the postseason since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2012, have three games remaining — two fewer than the Panthers.

Daniel Carr scored for the Canadiens, who have already been eliminated from playoff contention. Carey Price finished with 30 saves while playing his 556th game with Montreal, pulling into a tie with Jacques Plante for most games by a goaltender in franchise history.

As time expired on New Jersey’s too-many-men penalty, which saw the Canadiens play 51 seconds at 5-on-3, Hall emerged from the penalty box, took a pass from Travis Zajac and beat Price blockerside on the breakaway with with 4:07 remaining for his 37th goal of the season.

Hischier tied the score 1-1 just 26 seconds into the third. With his back to the goal, the top overall pick in last June’s NHL draft, got the blade of his stick on a shot from Sami Vatanen and deflected the puck past Price for his 19th.

Hischier, the only Devils player to dress for all 79 games this season, nearly gave New Jersey the lead on two occasions in the third. He was stopped by Price on a breakaway before hitting the post a minute later.

Both teams were playing the second game of a back-toback series. Montreal lost 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday while New Jersey beat the New York Islanders 4-3. CAPITALS 3, PENGUINS 1 » The Washington Capitals still run the Metropolitan Division. During the regular season anyway.

Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves and Washington celebrated star Alex Ovechkin’s 1,000th career regular season game by clinching their third straight division title with a victory over their rivals from Pittsburgh.

Ovechkin was held without a point but it hardly mattered. T.J. Oshie, Dmitry Orlov and Tom Wilson scored for Washington while Grubauer kept the NHL’s best power play in check as the Capitals assured themselves home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the postseason.