NEWARK, New Jersey — Cory Schneider stopped 22 shots in his first start since Dec. 27 as the New Jersey Devils blanked the Boston Bruins 3-0 at Prudential Center on Monday night.
It’s been a nightmare season for the 30-year-old Schneider, who entered the game with a 10-12-4 record and a career-worst .904 save percentage. But Schneider was strong and made a huge save on Brad Marchand in dying seconds of the first period to preserve a one-goal lead.
Taylor Hall, PA Parenteau and Sergey Kalinin each scored a goal for the Devils, who won in regulation for the second time in their past 13 games.
Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 23 saves.
Parenteau’s 11th goal of the season and third in four games gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 4:12 of the first period. The play began when Hall gained the zone, sliced in front of Zdeno Chara and forced Rask to make a tough save.
During the ensuing pressure, Rask directed a shot to the stick of Hall, who quickly snapped the rebound off the post. Parenteau drove past Chara and tapped the loose puck into the empty net to open the scoring.
Steven Santini earned the secondary assist on the goal, his first career NHL point.
After a scoreless second period, Kalinin’s second of the season at 1:44 of the third increase the lead to 2-0. Miles Wood carried the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and fed Kalinin, who kicked the puck from his skate to his stick and slipped it past Rask.
Hall salted the win with an empty-net goal with 1:58 remaining.
The Bruins weren’t able to muster much of an attack over the final two periods. After five shots in the second period, they had just five more shots over the final 20 minutes while trying to snap the shutout.
NOTES: Bruins C David Backes (concussion) missed his second straight game. He is out indefinitely. … Bruins RW Jimmy Hayes was a healthy scratch. … Devils LW Taylor Hall was in the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Devils D John Moore (concussion) was placed on injured reserve after a hit from behind by Capitals RW Tom Wilson on Saturday. … Devils C Travis Zajac (illness) did not play. … Devils RW Steven Santini made his season debut. … G Cory Schneider played his 200th game with the Devils.
St. Louis 4, Chicago 1
ST. LOUIS — Vladimir Tarasenko loves the big stage, and he showed why again on Monday in the Winter Classic.
Tarasenko scored twice in a span of 1:53 in the third period to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Blues’ first outdoor game in their history at Busch Stadium.
Tarasenko’s two goals came after he had been denied on two great scoring chances earlier in the period, being stopped on a breakaway by Chicago goalie Corey Crawford and then hitting the post when the Blues were on a power play, meaning he could have scored four goals in the period.
The two goals increased Tarasenko’s total to 18 on the season. He has also scored 14 goals in his last 19 games against the Blackhawks.
“I don’ think you can rank this performance, it’s just different, Tarasenko said. “It’s a different experience, maybe once in a lifetime. I’m just really happy we won the game, that’s the best feeling.”
For the rest of the Blues, knowing Tarasenko is on their team gives them a great feeling.
“Anytime you’ve got Vladi on the team, it usually helps,” said defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
The game was tied at 1 when Tarasenko scored his first goal at 12:05 of the third period, off a lucky bounce. His backhanded centering pass deflected off the skate of Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and into the net.
“I could have played it differently but it was a tough bounce,” Hjalmarsson said. “He (Tarasenko) is one of those few guys in the league that has a shot that’s more than above average. He doesn’t have to wind up to get a big shot away so he can shoot it from anywhere and that’s what makes him so dangerous.”
Tarasenko then added his second goal of the game at 13:58 to make it a 3-1 lead before Alexander Steen scored the final goal into an empty net.
Patrik Berglund had tied the game for the Blues with his goal in the second period after the Blackhawks got their only goal of the game just 62 seconds into the game, from defenseman Michal Kempny.
With the game tied, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock was not surprised it was Tarasenko who became the star of the game. Neither were his teammates.
“He’s a hungry offensive player,” Hitchcock said. “He’s a guy that sniffs out weaknesses or he sniffs out coverage issues and he jumps on it. And when he’s engaged like he was today and like he’s been for the most part of this year, he’s dangerous, because he’s one shift away from breaking the thing wide open. He usually doesn’t miss on those breakaways — and I thought for sure that was going to be the one.”
Added defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, “Big time players, you ask them to come through in big games. He’s a guy who shoots a million pucks a game but the one goes in off a skate for him, and that’s hockey right there. We knew if we put pucks at the goal crease we were going to get a bounce. He’s a guy who only needs one shot. He proved that today.”
The loss left the Blackhawks 1-4 in outdoor games and dropped them to 1-4-1 in their last six games, which was more of a concern for coach Joel Quenneville.
“We’re not getting production that we could use and one goal in the last couple of games,” Qunneville said. “The production’s been down a little bit, whether we get it from our power play or top guys, I think we are a better team offensively when we get some help from our defensemen, whether it’s off the rush or in zone or on the point and in the power play, that can really help us as well.”
The game began with a temperature of 46 degrees and the first half was played in a steady but light rain. The game drew a crowd of 46.556 fans.
“It was the coolest thing I’ev ever been a part of,” Pietrangelo said.
NOTES: The Blackhawks expect C Marcus Kruger to miss about three weeks with an upper-body injury suffered in Friday night’s game. He was placed on injured reserve Sunday. … RW Marian Hossa, who has not played since Dec. 20 because of an upper-body injury, could be back for the Blackhawks’ next game, at home Thursday night against Buffalo. … LW Jaden Schwartz missed Blues practice on Sunday because of illness but was well enough to play on Monday. … The Blues and Blackhawks have only one game remaining in their regular season series, on Feb. 26 in Chicago. … The Blues will host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night in their next game.