NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Nico Hischier scored off a rush with 8:10 to play and the New Jersey Devils beat the slumping Calgary Flames 3-2 Tuesday night for their seventh straight win.
Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Graves also scored as the Devils matched their longest winning streak since February 2011. Vitek Vanececk made 33 saves in helping New Jersey overcome a sub-par performance in returning from a three-game trip to western Canada.
Nazem Kadri and Tyler Toffoli scored power-play goals for the Flames, who have lost six straight (0-4-2). Jacob Markstrom made 17 saves.
Hischier’s sixth goal came against the flow of play. The Flames kept the puck in the Devils’ end for about two-plus minutes. Tomas Tatar got the puck out of the zone to Hamilton, who found Hischier coming down the middle. His shot beat Markstrom between the pads.
Toffoli’s had tied the game at 2-all at 5:13 of the third period with a power-play shot from the left circle that beat Vanecek to the top corner of the net. It came 20 seconds after Miles Wood was called for holding.
Despite being outshot 23-15 and having two goals nullified after Calgary challenges, the Devils led 2-1 after two periods on goals by Graves and Hamilton, the latter with a two-man advantage.
Kadri had given Calgary a 1-0 lead at 11:58 of the first period, a session in which the Flames held a 14-5 shot advantage. The tally was the seventh of the season for Kadri and it came on a wicked shot from the right circle on a power play.
The Devils had a goal by defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler overturned in the first period and another by Yegor Sharangovich taken off the board early in the second. The Devils entered the offensive zone too early on Siegenthaler’s goal and Sharangovich used a kicking motion to put kicked the puck into the net on his.
UP NEXT
Flames: At Boston on Thursday night to wrap up a three-game road trip.
Devils: Host Ottawa on Thursday night in the second of a three-game homestand.
