Flames-Devils Preview

Cory Schneider's high of being named to his first All-Star team this month has come with the low of a slump by New Jersey.

Schneider is doing his best to revive the injury-plagued Devils and can help them win consecutive games for the first time in more than two weeks while snapping a six-game losing streak against the visiting Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

Despite Schneider's solid play in net, New Jersey (22-19-5) has taken a step back with losses in five of seven. The Devils sat within a point of the Metropolitan Division's third playoff spot before a cold stretch has dropped them four back with a week left before the All-Star break.

Schneider is tied with Chicago's Corey Crawford for the league lead in starts with 38 and was chosen earlier this month to play in the league's midseason showcase at Nashville. He has plenty of work left to do, however, with four games left.

Schneider has a 1.51 goals-against average and .947 save percentage since Dec. 30, and he matched a season high with 38 saves in Saturday's 2-0 win at Arizona for his fourth shutout.

The Devils needed almost every one of Schneider's saves with two or fewer goals scored for the seventh straight game. New Jersey has eight total goals for the lowest average in the league at 1.14 during that span while going 0 for 17 on the power play.

They managed a 2-2 trip with Saturday's win. Reid Boucher scored his first goal of the season a day after getting recalled from the AHL, and Kyle Palmieri chipped in his team-leading 18th to snap a season-worst six-game drought.

The Devils have played without leading point scorer Mike Cammalleri the last eight games due to an upper-body injury, but coach John Hynes said there's a good chance he will return against the Flames.

"We had a lot of changes in our lineup and a lot of adversity over the last eight days," Hynes told the team's official website. "So it's good to go .500 on the trip and respond the way we did."

Winning two games in a row for the first time since taking three straight Dec. 29-Jan. 2 will mean beating Calgary for the first time since Nov. 24, 2010.

The Flames (20-20-3) own an eight-game point streak against New Jersey dating to March 2010, and the latest chapter came Nov. 17 when they handed Schneider his third straight loss in this series with a 3-2 victory in Calgary.

Calgary is one of the top scoring teams in the league since Dec. 4 with 3.11 goals per game, but the Flames followed a season high in Wednesday's 6-0 win over Florida with Saturday's 2-1 shootout loss at Edmonton.

Sam Bennett scored the lone goal three days after becoming the first Calgary player to score four in a game since Jarome Iginla on Feb. 23, 2003. The Flames came up empty on their other 31 shots and failed to connect on their three shootout attempts.

Jonas Hiller suffered the tough-luck loss in net after making 36 saves.

"When he plays like that, you should win pretty much every game," defenseman Dougie Hamilton said. "We owe him one next game."

Hiller has missed most of the season with injuries but has been great in his last two starts and earned his first shutout Wednesday. He has a 2.29 GAA and .913 save percentage in six career games against New Jersey.