NEWARK Chris Wagner Jersey Womens , N.J. (AP) For the first time since spending $340 million to buy the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2013, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are getting a chance to see the team play some meaningful games in the final months of the NHL season.Following Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win over the New York Islanders, the Devils hold a five-point lead over Columbus in the race for the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and a seven-point edge over the Islanders for the second wild-card spot with 20 games left in the regular season.While it is still too early to start celebrating, the Devils’ five-year playoff drought might be ending.”Yeah, I hope we’re going to the playoffs and long run, we’ve said consistently that we want to be an elite Stanley Cup contender year in, year out and there are no shortcuts to that,” Harris said Saturday night in a rare interview after taking part in the ceremony to retire the No. 26 jersey of Patrik Elias, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.What makes this turnaround remarkable is that the Devils had their worst season in three decades in 2016-17 Alex Galchenyuk Jersey Womens , finishing last in the conference with 70 points.Their win over the Islanders on Saturday night gave them 72 points this season.”We have always said we were going to do things step by step to build long-run winners,” Harris said. ”Sometimes everyone gets impatient and we get impatient. Last year wasn’t great to be me. It’s very exciting to be in the hunt, but we are not done.”Much of the credit for the turnaround has to go to general manager Ray Shero, who came on board in the offseason in 2015. He has revamped the roster with the latest addition being the acquisition of 25-goal scorer Michael Grabner from the Rangers on Thursday in the first deal between the area rivals since the Devils came to New Jersey in 1982.It was just the latest deal by Shero who has acquired forwards Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and Marcus Johansson, defensemen Sami Vatanen and Mirco Mueller and goaltender Eddie Lack in trades and signed free agents John Moore, Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Will Butcher, Jimmy Hayes and Drew Stafford.Hall is having a career season with 26 goals and 40 assists. His 66 points are 25 more than any player on the team.The bad season last year also helped earn the Devils the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. They got a winner with 19-year-old Nico Hischier Carter Rowney Jersey Womens , who is centering the top line.”Look when Ray came in in 2015 I still remember him saying things won’t necessarily change overnight, but we’re going to move this in the right direction and that’s all across the organization,” Blitzer said. ”What he has been able to do over the last 2 years, and I think as we look at the future, it has been incredible.”New Jersey still faces an immediate obstacle in its playoff push. Nine of its next 12 games are on the road, including eight with teams in playoff positions heading into Sunday’s games.Blitzer believes the Devils are going to finish what they started this season.”Certain things happen that you plan and certain things happen that you don’t necessarily plan,” he said. ”We got some really interesting pieces that you could not predict at the beginning of the summer. Will Butcher; for Nico to come and do what he is doing. Taylor Hall to turn over what he is doing this season and the leadership he is showing.”It’s just been incredible,” he added. ”I just think you see a team really gelling. It’s also a team not just built for today. This is a team that is built for the future and that’s what makes it so exciting.”— SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Evander Kane has done a good job tormenting the Calgary Flames with his goal-scoring prowess and physical play.Kane scored twice to give him six goals in his past two games against Calgary and got into two scrums as the San Jose Sharks won their seventh straight game, beating the Flames 5-1 on Saturday.”I’m not a guy to shy away from the physical part of the game Luke Schenn Jersey Womens ,” Kane said. ”That’s a big part of hockey in my mind and a lot of people’s. You don’t see fighting as much anymore. But at the same time I think it’s very necessary and sometimes it calls for it.”Kane followed up his four-goal effort in Calgary a week ago with another impactful performance, scoring a short-handed goal in the second period to give the Sharks a 3-1 lead and an insurance goal in the third. He also used his physical play to get into a scrum with Mikael Backlund and a fight with Travis Hamonic.The Sharks improved to 10-2 since acquiring Kane just before the trade deadline last month, including this current streak that is the longest for San Jose since a seven-gamer from March 25 to April 5, 2013.”This is the time of year you want to be playing well, you want to get hot,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”For me it’s about our game. The results are nice, the wins are nice. Out of the seven games this was probably the sloppiest of the seven but we found a way to win.”Brenden Dillon, Jannik Hansen and Justin Braun also scored for the Sharks, who moved six points ahead of Los Angeles in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Kings played later Saturday in Edmonton. Martin Jones made 37 saves.Michael Stone scored the lone for the Flames, who have lost five straight to fall out of the playoff race. Calgary trails Anaheim by nine points for the final playoff spot with just six games remaining. David Rittich made 28 saves.The Flames have been outscored 25-7 during the skid despite outshooting the opponent each game.”It seems like we’re leading the NHL in moral victories but it’s not getting us any points right now Womens Niklas Hjalmarsson Jersey ,” forward Troy Brouwer said. ”It resulted in another loss where we actually had really good stretches during the game but ultimately no results.”The Flames were controlling the play in the second period before Kane’s goal turned the momentum back in San Jose’s favor. Calgary held San Jose without a shot on goal for more than six minutes to start the period and had just started a power play when Kane struck for his goal.Chris Tierney skated into the offensive zone and held the puck near the net as Johnny Gaudreau skated past Kane, who was set up in front of the crease. Tierney then slid a pass to Kane, who knocked it into the open net for his sixth goal with the Sharks and 26th on the season.Kane then had his run-ins with the Flames late in the second and early in the third before the Sharks broke it open with goals from Braun and Kane midway through the third period.Dillon, who assisted on Kane’s second goal, then got into a fight late in the game with Garnet Hathaway to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.The Sharks started fast and scored twice in a span of 74 seconds midway through the first period with goals by Dillon and Hansen.The Flames got one back with a blast from the point through traffic by Stone.NOTES: The Sharks honored Jonathan Cheechoo, who recently announced his retirement. … Brent Burns‘ assist on Hansen’s goal was his 49th of the season, breaking the record he set two years ago for Sharks defensemen. … Flames F Matthew Tkachuk (upper body) and D TJ Brodie did not make the trip for the two games in California.UP NEXTFlames: Visit Los Angeles on MondaySharks: Visit Chicago on Monday.—