Devils at Canadiens
The New Jersey Devils attempt to tighten their hold on a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday. New Jersey completed a 3-0-1 homestand with Saturday's 4-3 triumph over the New York Islanders, which moved it five points ahead of Florida for the second wild card and pulled it within one of Philadelphia for the first spot with four games remaining.
Taylor Hall continued his torrid pace Saturday as he scored twice to increase his career-high totals to 36 goals and 88 points while helping the Devils climb within three points of Columbus for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The 26-year-old left wing has collected five tallies and seven assists during his seven-game point streak and is one power-play goal away from matching the career high of 13 he set in 2011-12 with Edmonton. The Canadiens are kicking off a two-game homestand before ending the season with a pair of contests on the road. Montreal dropped a 5-2 decision at Pittsburgh on Saturday, marking its third loss to the Penguins in 17 days.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG Plus (New Jersey), Sportsnet, RDS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (41-28-9): Will Butcher notched a pair of assists against the Islanders to set the franchise record for most by a rookie defenseman (39). The previous mark of 38 was posted by Barry Beck in 1977-78, when the franchise was known as the Colorado Rockies. Kyle Palmieri had his three-game goal-scoring streak snapped Saturday but registered an assist to extend his point run to four contests before leaving midway through the third period after being clipped under his eye by the stick of captain Andy Greene.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (28-38-12): Brendan Gallagher recorded two assists against Pittsburgh to extend his point streak to five games. The 25-year-old right wing, who has collected four goals and three assists during the run, also reached the 50-point plateau for the first time in his career. Defenseman David Schlemko returned to the lineup Saturday after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury and blocked two shots while posting a minus-2 rating in 17 minutes, 17 seconds of ice time.
OVERTIME
1. Devils C Blake Coleman scored the team's 11th short-handed goal of the season Saturday, tying it with Edmonton for the league lead.
2. Montreal D Mike Reilly, who was a healthy scratch on Saturday, will reach the century mark in games played with his next appearance.
3. New Jersey D John Moore's point drought reached four games Saturday, keeping him one shy of 100 for his career.