While Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier have been getting much

NEWARK Alex DeBrincat Jersey , N.J. (AP) While Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier have been getting much of the credit for New Jersey’s surprising playoff push, goaltender Keith Kinkaid has been the one carrying the Devils back to the postseason the past two weeks.Kinkaid made 35 saves and the Devils took another major step toward making the playoffs for the first time since 2012 with a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.Hischier and Kyle Palmieri scored for New Jersey, which has elevated its playoff chances with wins in five of seven games – including outstanding efforts in beating the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning on consecutive nights.”Keith has been a difference maker,” Devils coach John Hynes said of Kinkaid, who had 75 saves the past two nights. ”He has really come in and played well. He has made key saves at key times. He obviously won quite a few games and been a real important factor for us in remaining competitive in the playoff race. We would like to see him continue that at that level, as well.”Kinkaid is 11-3 in his last 14 decisions since taking over the No. 1 goaltender’s job after Cory Schneider was hurt in late-January and keeping it after Schneider returned.Coupled with Florida’s come-from-behind win over Arizona, the Devils are three points ahead of the Panthers in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with seven games left in the regular season. Florida has two games in hand.”I felt good last year with ups and downs, but once you get on a roll, confidence can take you a long way and I feel as comfortable as ever,” Kinkaid said.The Devils had to work for this one. They took a 2-0 lead into the third period and saw the margin halved when Ondrej Palat scored on a power play early.Kinkaid saved the lead – and the win – with a diving save on a close-in attempt by Ryan McDonagh with just over two minutes to play and the net wide open. McDonagh said his shot hit the goalpost and Kinkaid then covered it.”I hadn’t been getting those bounces, but nice to get a few,” Kinkaid said.Andrei Vasilevskiy had 29 saves as the Lightning lost for only the third time in 16 games (12-3-1).”We didn’t have that urgency to play with a team that was flying tonight,” Tampa Bay forward Chris Kunitz said.Hischier, who set up Hall’s overtime winner in Pittsburgh on Friday night Cam Atkinson Jersey Kids , gave the Devils the lead, tapping the rebound of a shot by fellow rookie Will Butcher into an open net at 17:51 of the first period.Palmieri doubled the lead at 10:59 of the second period, beating Vasilevskiy with a snap shot from between the circles for his 21st goal.”We didn’t give them much the whole night,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. ”They capitalized on a rebound that squirted out and a goal-scorer making a goal-scoring move. We did a lot of things, but couldn’t find the back of the net tonight.”Kinkaid stopped 24 shots in the first two periods, and benefited in the second when Nikita Kucherov, the league’s leading scorer, missed the net on a breakaway.The Lightning were furious with linesman Steve Miller late in the second period when J.T. Miller was hit with a delay of game penalty for a faceoff violation with Tampa Bay about to go on a power play. Miller kicked three players out of the faceoff circle, starting with Steven Stamkos of the Lightning, Travis Zajac of the Devils and then Miller, who refused to comment on the penalty.NOTES: The Devils signed G Cam Johnson to a one-year, entry-level contract, which will start next season. He is a college free agent who completed his senior season at the University of North Dakota. … D Ben Lovejoy was out of the Devils’ lineup for the first time since Dec. 30 and replaced by Mirco Mueller, who was playing for first time since Feb. 22. Mueller had an assist on Hischier’s goal.UP NEXTLightning: Return home to face Arizona on Monday.Devils: Host Carolina on Tuesday in second of four-game homestand.— SUNRISE www.kingsproshop.com , Fla. (AP) Bill Torrey, the jovial bow-tie wearing Hall of Famer who was the general manager of the New York Islanders when they won four consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1980s and eventually became the first president of the Florida Panthers, has died.Torrey died at his home in South Florida on Wednesday night, the NHL said. He was 83.No cause was immediately revealed, though he was not known to be in any sort of poor health. Torrey, who spent the last several years of his career as an advisor to Florida general manager Dale Tallon and also serving as the franchise’s alternate governor, was at work like usual in his Panthers’ office earlier this week.”Bill was a giant of our game,” Tallon said. ”He was the architect of a dynasty, a Hockey Hall of Famer and most importantly, a committed family man. I’m heartbroken by the news of his passing. Bill was a mentor and a dear friend who was instrumental in bringing me to South Florida to work alongside him. He was a wonderful person who never lost his passion for the game and loved being at the rink.”Torrey left an indelible impact on hockey, particularly the Islanders and the Panthers.He was the first employee in Islanders history when the franchise was born in 1972, and the team raised a banner in his honor years ago calling him ”The Architect.” Torrey then became Florida’s first president, and the Panthers gave him a banner in 2010 with the number ”93” – a nod to 1993, when the team played its first game.”He was a pioneer Womens Josh Anderson Jersey , who became a mentor and even better friend, to so many in the industry,” Islanders president and general manager Garth Snow said. ”The teams he constructed set records that may never be broken, including the four straight Stanley Cup Championships and 19 straight playoff series wins.”Florida reached the Stanley Cup final in 1996 under Torrey, falling to Colorado. Earlier that season, Torrey went into the Hall of Fame as a builder who specialized in taking expansion teams and turning them into quick winners.NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called Torrey ”a true legend of our game.””His imprint is on virtually every team in our league, as he personally mentored and inspired generations of NHL general managers who have followed him and established the team-building blueprint based upon scouting, drafting and player development that today remains the model for lasting success,” Bettman said.Brian Burke, a longtime hockey executive, asked Torrey for some advice in the early 1990s and remembered getting about a four-sentence answer on how to build a club.Burke never forgot any of those words, and they became the guide that he’s used ever since – even when putting together the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team that lost a classic gold-medal game against host Canada at the Vancouver Games.And what Torrey did, Burke said, will never be matched.”Bill Torrey won four consecutive Stanley Cups with the Islanders Adam Henrique Jersey ,” Burke said in 2011. ”It’ll never be done again. In a salary cap system I think you’re lucky to win two Cups in 10 years. But you’ll never win four in a row again with this format.”William A. Torrey was born June 23, 1934 in Montreal. He attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, studying business and psychology. His first hockey front-office job was with the AHL’s Pittsburgh Hornets in the 1960s, and his NHL career started in 1967 when he was hired as executive vice president of the California Seals – another expansion club.He went to the Islanders in 1972, then to the Panthers in 1993 and never left.”An original Panther and the forefather of our franchise, Mr. Torrey had a champion’s spirit and lived for the game,” Panthers owner Vincent Viola said. ”His indomitable energy and his commitment to hockey and to South Florida was inspiring. It was an honor to work with him and know him.”Torrey is survived by four sons, a brother, a sister and 10 grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not been revealed.—