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Taylor Hall couldn’t have picked a better time to get his first career short-handed goal.

Hall scored on a breakaway late in the third period to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday night.

The 26-year-old forward came out of the penalty box after serving a penalty for too many men – in which Montreal had a 5-on-3 advantage for 51 seconds – took a a pass from Travis Zajac and beat Carey Price on the blocker side with 4:07 remaining.

”I’m not much of a short-handed threat but it’s nice to get one there http://www.cowboyscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-dorance-armstrong-jr.-jersey ,” said Hall, who extended his point streak to eight games. ”Two minutes feeling shame and trying to think about what you’re going to do when you get out, and then you get a breakaway chance like that after a great kill by our guys.”

The goal was Hall’s fourth in his last three games and 37th on the season, giving him career highs in goals and points (89).

”You’re always thinking this is the time I’m going to get a breakaway out of the box,” Hall said. ”Usually you go in for a defensive zone shift and you’re hemmed in for a while. Just a great kill by our 5-on-3 group.”

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.

”We’re excited about it but it’s about our game,” Devils coach John Hynes said. ”You can’t get too wrapped up in those situations. We need to make sure that our focus level is our game, and where we’re going, and making sure we’re ready to continue to play.”

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.

”It was a good performance from this team http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-byron-maxwell-jersey ,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. ”Price was very good. We battled hard and did some good things. It was a very physical game. It’s unfortunate because we played a good game but still found a way to lose.”

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.

”Every single guy in here wanted this win,” Hischier said. ”A huge two points. At the end we just found a way. That’s all that matters at the end of the season, to win games.”

Both teams were playing the second game of a back-to-back series. Montreal lost 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday while New Jersey beat the New York Islanders 4-3.

Carr scored a contentious goal with 9 seconds left in the first period to get the Canadiens on the scoreboard. With Montreal on a rush on a power play, Carr took a pass from Artturi Lehkonen in the slot and fired a slap shot, glove-side on Kinkaid, in the top corner of the net.

Hynes challenged for offside on the play, but the goal stood after a review. Defenseman Mike Reilly, playing his 100th NHL game http://www.billsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-harrison-phillips-jersey , got an assist on Carr’s fifth of the season.

NOTES: The Canadiens finished 4-8-2 this season in the second game of a back-to-back. … Kerby Rychel, 23, recalled from Laval of the AHL on Friday, made his Montreal debut. … There was a moment of silence before the game for former Montreal Expos and MLB star Rusty Staub, who passed away Thursday.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

Canadiens: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday night.

Artie Burns and Joe Haden don’t believe the Pittsburgh Steelers have a clear-cut No. 1 cornerback.

The two feel they share that role.

Haden has been a top cornerback in the league throughout his career and Burns, a 2016 first-round pick, feels like he’s starting to come into his own as he enters his third season. The two hope a full offseason and training camp together can help a young group of Steelers defensive backs regain some swagger.

”Right now, I’m just trying to show him the way I go about my business,” Haden said. ”Training camp is one of the biggest spots where we can see growth and we can see what the offseason did.”

Haden spent his first seven pro seasons in Cleveland. He feels an entire spring of organized team activities and minicamp with Burns and the Steelers will only prove beneficial as the team works through training camp and the preseason.

”I’m trying to understand the whole defense, not just the corners and safety, but also the linebackers and defensive linemen,” Haden said. ”I’m just trying to get the whole system from the ground up and get an overall grasp of the defense.”

Cleveland released Haden on the eve of the 2017 regular season and the Steelers immediately acted. They quickly signed the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback with the hope he could give a young secondary an instant jolt.

”Having a veteran guy in your room that got to the level everybody wants to get to http://www.authenticsbuffalobills.com/cheap-marshall-newhouse-jersey ,” Burns said, ”you kind of sit back and think that you can learn from him to get to that point.”

The Steelers did just that last season.

Pittsburgh ranked 16th against the pass in 2016, but Haden provided a necessary boost as the Steelers ended fifth in passing yards allowed. A 45-point outburst by Jacksonville in the AFC divisional playoff marred an otherwise strong season.

”I think the communication was the biggest thing for us, just no blown coverages,” Haden said. ”In the Jacksonville game, there were a couple times where people were just running free. We have the ability, we have the players, we just have to be on the same page and make sure everybody’s covering their man.”

That has been the focus for Burns. He has carried a noticeably different, more confident swagger during training camp practices. He’s still locked into regular one-on-one practice battles with four-time All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown, a daily matchup Burns welcomes.

”Ever since I got here it’s been a battle with (Brown),” Burns said. ”It’s just something I expect from myself. I don’t even request it. I just step up, we go at it and go to work.”

It has already paid off for the third-year cornerback.

Burns jumped Brown’s slant route during the team’s first padded practice and picked off Landry Jones’s pass in the end zone. He also jumped a Ben Roethlisberger pass and came up with an interception that would’ve been returned for a touchdown.

Burns said that sort of intuition comes with experience.

”You can feel the speed of the receiver http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-alex-mcgough-jersey ,” Burns said. ”A play can only go for so long, so once you figure out the timing of it, that’s when you have a chance to make a play on the ball.”

Burns seeks similar game-changing plays alongside Haden in the secondary this season.

”(Haden) is helping us in certain situations that he has already been put in before,” Burns said. ”That’s what Joe is doing for us.”

NOTES: Coach Mike Tomlin said Brown was sent to Pittsburgh to be evaluated for a ”minor, day-to-day” injury. Brown missed the previous two practices with his undisclosed injury. Tomlin wouldn’t say what sort of injury. … S Morgan Burnett (hamstring), Sean Davis (groin), T.J. Watt (hamstring), Vance McDonald (foot) and Alejandro Villanueva (undisclosed) also missed practice on Thursday.

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