Hischier, Devils top Canadiens in overtime

MONTREAL -- Nico Hischier scored his second goal of the game at 1:56 of overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Hischier, whose father was in attendance, scored the winner on a wrist shot from the left side for his second overtime goal of the season after tying the game 2-2 at 11:26 of the third period.
\[WATCH: All Devils vs. Canadiens highlights\]
"It's always good when I have family coming over, and it kind of pushed me for sure," Hischier said. "But I couldn't score and he probably would say I had a good game, so it doesn't really matter."
With forward Travis Zajac injured, Hischier was designated one of New Jersey's alternate captains by coach John Hynes.
"We felt as though he deserves it and he made good on it, too," Hynes said. "He played extremely well with that letter on his chest."
Mackenzie Blackwood
made 37 saves, and Will Butcher scored one of two power-play goals for the Devils (20-24-7), who have won two of their past three games.
"There were lots of pushes and surges in the game either way," Hynes said. "We got some very good goaltending when we were under siege and that allowed us to be able to stay with it. But I think collectively as a group we continued to battle and then eventually found a way to win the game."

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Phillip Danault scored for the Canadiens (28-18-6), who played their first game following a mandatory five-day break after the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend.
"I think it's pretty clear that we were the better team today," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "We had a lot of chances. The reason that we're here with an overtime loss is because we weren't able to finish our scoring chances."
Antti Niemi made 24 saves starting in place of Carey Price, who served a one-game suspension for not participating in the All-Star Game.

"It wasn't easy, not facing too many shots early in the game, so it was tougher to get into the game," said Niemi, who made 12 savs on 13 shots through the first two periods, including all four shots faced in the second.
The Canadiens, who were 5-1-0 in their previous six games, played the first of their traditional back-to-back games on Super Bowl weekend.
Kotkaniemi gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with his seventh goal at 5:22 of the first period.
Butcher tied it at 1-1 at 19:16 on a one-timer from the top of the slot with five seconds remaining in a 1:40 two-man advantage.

Danault gave Montreal its second one-goal lead at 16:33 of the second. He deflected Jeff Petry's wrist shot from the left point when he cut across the goalmouth to make it 2-1 eight seconds after Devils forward
Kurtis Gabriel
's roughing penalty expired.

They said it

"The way he plays, he's really calm back there and it gives a lot of momentum for us. He makes huge saves when needed and that's always good to know as a player if you have a goalie back in the net that's ready to play. And I think he stepped in, he's done a great job so far." -- Devils forward Nico Hischier on rookie goalie Mackenzie Blackwood
"I think we had chances to win the game, but obviously it didn't happen. So I think that's a thing we need to learn how to do if we play well so we need to win."-- Canadiens forward Joel Armia

Need to know

Hischier has four goals in five games against Montreal. … Kotkaniemi has scored each of his seven goals at home. The 18-year-old rookie has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 27 home games, and nine points (nine assists) in 25 road games.

What's next

Devils: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-W, ESPN+, NHL.TV)
Canadiens:Host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (2 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, ESPN+, NHL.TV)