Cory Schneider, Devils shut out Bruins

NEWARK, N.J. --Cory Schneider made 22 saves to help the New Jersey Devils to a 3-0 win against the Boston Bruins at Prudential Center on Monday.
Schneider, who started for the first time in three games, had allowed three or more goals in 12 of his previous 15 starts.

"Great execution by the boys tonight," Schneider said. "One game does not turn everything around, but it's a good start missing some guys and hopefully it's a good sign for 2017.
WATCH: All Bruins vs. Devils highlights
"It's not that I felt that much superior tonight than I have on other nights; made a couple of key saves, but overall I thought again we defended really well and didn't give them too many wide open looks, not a lot of odd-man rushes."
PA Parenteau, Sergey Kalinin and Taylor Hall scored for New Jersey (15-16-7), which won for the second time in three games.
Parenteau gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 4:12 of the first period. Hall's initial shot hit the post, but Parenteau put the rebound past Tuukka Rask for his sixth goal in the past 10 games. Seven of Parenteau's 11 goals this season have been the opening goal of the game.
"It's nice as a player to score early in the game like that," Parenteau said. "To score the first goal of the game, it gives you legs, but it's also good for the team. That's something we've been stressing, trying to get the first goal, trying to get some shots on net and it's working for me right now."

Brad Marchand almost tied the game in the final seconds of the first period after a turnover by New Jersey, but it was replays concluded the puck never completely crossed the goal line.
"It definitely would have given you the momentum you are looking for, but you can't rely on one chance and think that is the answer," Patrice Bergeron said. "Again, we build something good there against Buffalo [back-to-back wins on Thursday and Saturday], and you can't expect things to fall in place because of that. You have to show up every night and tonight was the opposite of that."
Kalinin scored early in the third and Hall, who missed the previous two games because of a lower-body injury, scored an empty-net goal with 1:58 remaining to make it 3-0. It was Hall's first goal in 10 games.
Rask made 23 saves for Boston (20-16-4), which failed to win its third straight.
"You can lose games and sometimes take a lot of positives out of it despite the losses, but today I don't think there is too much," Rask said.

Goal of the game

New Jersey extended its lead to 2-0 at 1:44 of the third period when Kalinin finished off a 2-on-1 by tapping in a perfect pass from Wood past Rask. "Scoring that goal was huge for us," Wood said. "That was way more important than my fight (against Colin Miller in the first period)."

Save of the game

Early in the second period with the Devils holding a 1-0 lead, Schneider stopped a shot by Marchand before denying Bergeron on the doorstep with his blocker.

Unsung performance of the game

Devils defenseman John Merrill, who was a healthy scratch two games ago and was a minus-2 against the Washington Capitals on Saturday, had an assist and was on the ice for all three Devils goals (plus-3) on Monday. He also had a block in 13:38 of ice time.
Highlight of the game
Schneider made a lunging stick save on Marchand's attempt before smothering the puck with his glove with five seconds left in the first period to preserve New Jersey's 1-0 lead. "Sometimes, the way things are going, that's an inch over the line and it's a goal so just that extra inch tonight the other way made the difference going into [intermission] tied as opposed to being up 1-0," Schneider said. "(We) didn't let them get any momentum."

They said it

"It was pretty obvious. From top to bottom, everyone didn't show up. You can't win [like that], no matter who you are playing in this league. Teams are too good and that was a perfect example tonight." --Bruins center Patrice Bergeron
"We just couldn't muster up anything tonight. We were flat. We were flat from start to finish."-- Bruins coach Claude Julien

Need to know

The Bruins were shut out for the third time this season. … Schneider played in his 200th NHL game. ... Rookie defenseman Steven Santini got his first NHL point with the secondary assist on Parenteau's goal. ... Devils centers Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson were scratched because of illness. ...The Devils power play was 0-for-6 and is 0-15 in their past two games and hasn't converted in their past 25 chances.

What's next

Bruins:Host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SN, NESN, NHL.TV)
Devils:At the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-SE, MSG+, NHL.TV)