Devils Stay Winless In 3-2 Loss To Calgary

Sean Monahan scores. Calgary Flames win. Repeat.

In what's quickly becoming a familiar script, the rookie sensation was at it again Friday night scoring the winner with 2:43 left in the third period to lead Calgary to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

The sixth overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, Monahan has had a strong start to his pro career with goals in four straight games.

"That's the biggest one yet," said Monahan, who turns 19 on Saturday. "It won us the game there and that's huge. We want to win as many games as we can right now, we want to have a good start and that's really big for our team right now."

Monahan also has a five-game points streak (four goals, two assists), which is the longest for a Flames rookie since 31-year-old Sergei Makarov had points in seven straight games to begin his NHL career in 1989-90, which was before the league re-wrote the rules around rookie eligibility.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to my linemates and the players I'm playing with," said Monahan, who is still eligible to return to OHL's Ottawa 67's, though the likelihood of that happening seems to decrease with every passing game.

"They're making it easy on me, putting the pucks right on my tape and in good position and fortunately enough, I'm putting them in the back of the net."

The winner was Exhibit A.

Sven Baertschi made a hit along the side boards, grabbed the loose puck and zipped a perfect pass to Monahan, who steered it behind Martin Brodeur. The 41-year-old Devils goaltender already had 29 NHL wins when Monahan was born.

"As soon as I got the puck, I was looking towards the net. I saw Jiri (Hudler), but then I saw (Monahan) back door," Baertschi said. "We were just looking at each other and I was like 'OK, there's only one thing I have to do,' get that puck right to him and there was only one stick in the way, so I passed it as hard as I could."

It is the first time since the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980 that the team has taken at least one point in each of its first five games.

"We feel good, but there are no stats right now that allows us to sit on those five games. We have 82 to play. There is still lots of hockey to be played," Flames coach Bob Hartley said.

Dennis Wideman and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary (3-0-2) and Hudler had two assists to extend his points streak to five games. Next up for the Flames is a five-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Anaheim.

Adam Henrique and Dainius Zubrus scored for New Jersey. The Devils are 0-1-2 with two stops to go on their five-game road trip. They visit Winnipeg on Sunday.

On the heels of a stretch that included two shootout losses and an overtime loss, it was another tough defeat.

"Obviously we want to get wins and we're not getting them, but the last thing we need to do is really get frustrated or overanalyze it," Devils captain Bryce Salvador said.

Jaromir Jagr said they just have to keep their chins up and keep going.

"We just made some mistakes and it cost us," Jagr said. "We had the lead every game except the first game against the Penguins. We've got to learn to play with the lead."

New Jersey poured on the pressure in one stretch in the third when the game was tied 2-2. But despite goalie Joey MacDonald losing his stick, the Devils were unable to score with the Flames diving in front of shots all over.

"We had it for a minute and a half, but they were able to block everything," Jagr said.

Leading 2-1 late in the second period, New Jersey appeared to have scored again when Ryan Clowe's slap shot off the wing bounced up in the air off MacDonald and into the net. However, the goal was waved off and Devils winger Michael Ryder, who had gone hard to the net for the rebound, was sent off for goalie interference.

Calgary had its best prolonged pressure of the game on the ensuing power play, controlling the puck in the Devils' zone for the entire man advantage. After several close changes, Giordano eventually poked a backhand into the net to tie it 2-2.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)