ESPN Fantasy Baseball / Yahoo Fantasy Baseball
NEWARK, N.J. -- Jacob Josefson and Patrik Elias scored in the shootout to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Prudential Center on Friday.
Stefan Matteau and Reid Boucher each scored his first of the season for the Devils. Keith Kinkaid made 31 saves.
Tomas Plekanec and Jeff Petry scored for the Canadiens; Dustin Tokarski made 16 saves.
Kinkaid stopped Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais in the shootout. Josefson scored in the second round and Elias in the third.
The Canadiens (47-22-10), who have lost five of the past six games (1-2-3), close their two-game road trip against the Florida Panthers on Sunday. The Canadiens are in first place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Montreal, which allows an NHL-low 2.24 goals per game, has given up 11 in the past three, including a 5-4 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
The Devils tied it 2-2 in the second period when Boucher scored his first goal in eight NHL games this season. He deflected a shot from the left point by Jon Merrill past Tokarski at 4:37. The goal came less than a minute after Tokarski made a great save with his left pad against Damon Severson.
The Canadiens failed to take advantage of a five-minute power play late in the second period when Scott Gomez was given a major and a game misconduct for elbowing Alexei Emelin at 14:38. Emelin knocked Gomez to the ice on a legal hit with his shoulder, and Gomez retaliated with his elbow a few seconds later in front of Tokarski.
The Devils penalty-killers limited the Canadiens to one shot on the advantage. The Canadiens finished 1-for-6 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 for 33 seconds late in the third period with Matteau (delay of game) and Andy Greene (tripping) in the penalty box. The Devils also denied the Canadiens during a 4-on-3 power play in overtime after Greene's tripping penalty at 2:39.
Plekanec and Petry scored in a span of 2:03 to give Montreal a 2-1 first-period lead.
Plekanec scored seven seconds into a power play after Merrill was whistled for interference at 14:39. With Brendan Gallagher providing a screen, Plekanec shot from the top of the right circle.
Petry scored with a snap shot from the right circle at 16:42. The goal was the defenseman's third in 16 games with the Canadiens since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers in a trade March 2.
The Devils took a 1-0 lead when Matteau scored his second NHL goal off a rebound at the right post at 9:51. It was his first in the League since Feb. 9, 2013 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was the type of goal Devils co-coach Lou Lamoriello would like to see more often.
"[Matteau] is a power forward and he needs to play like one," Lamoriello said earlier in the day.
The Devils (32-33-13), who ended a six game losing streak (1-4-2), play at the Metropolitan Division-champion New York Rangers on Saturday.
Tokarski was making his first start in four games in place of Carey Price; Tokarski allowed five goals in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on March 26. Montreal coach Michel Therrien also opted to scratch veteran defenseman Andrei Markov. Markov, who hadn't missed a game this season, was replaced by veteran Sergei Gonchar, who played after a nine-game absence.
"We wanted to give [Markov] some rest in a back-to-back game situation," Therrien said. "He's played a lot of hockey for us and has played big minutes. Approaching the [Stanley Cup Playoffs] we have to make sure we're smart with our decisions. Andrei wanted to play, and that's normal, but we have to manage his energy because [the start of the playoffs] is knocking on the door and we have to make sure we have energy in the tank."
CBS Sports Fantasy Baseball / RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit
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