Hischier has hat trick, Devils top Wild 5-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Nico Hischier scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season and the New Jersey Devils beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Saturday.

Paul Cotter and Tomas Tatar also scored, Jesper Bratt had two assists, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 22 shots for the Devils. New Jersey won for the second time in six games (2-3-1).

Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman scored and Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves for the Wild, who have lost three of four.

Minnesota is tied with St. Louis for the top wild card in the Western Conference, with the teams six points ahead of Vancouver. The Blues beat Colorado 2-1 Saturday for their ninth straight win.

After New Jersey was blanked 4-0 Friday in Winnipeg, Hischier scored 29 seconds into the game and Cotter scored before six minutes elapsed for a 2-0 lead.

Hischier made it 3-1 early in the third, but Hartman answered two minutes later for the Wild. Hischier completed his first three-goal game since Nov. 25 with a power-play goal with 5:10 remaining. Hischier has a career-high 33 goals this season.

Foligno also had an assist on Hartman's goal in the third period, and a major for fighting the Devils' Jonathan Kovacevic for a Gordie Howe hat trick.

Devils: Hischier, whose first goal was the fastest to start the game for New Jersey this season, has points in 10 of his last 11 games with seven goals and six assists.

Wild: Minnesota finished 5-5-1 in a stretch in a stretch it played 10 of 11 games at home. Five of the last eight games are on the road, where the Wild are second in the NHL with 47 points (22-11-3).

New Jersey just missed making it 3-1 with 15 seconds left in the second period. On a 3-on-1 Bratt’s shot looked to be going in, but it went off the skate of teammate Timo Meier who was crossing at the edge of the crease and the puck deflected wide.

Per NHL Stats, Bratt’s two assists give him 15 this month, the most in a month by a Devils player since Scott Gomez had 16 in March 2004. Bratt has a career-high 66 assists this season.

Wild visit New Jersey on Monday to complete the home-and-home set.

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

New Jersey Devils defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic (8) and Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno (17) fight during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Wild and New Jersey Devils players fight during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) stops a shot during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) and defenseman Jonas Brodin (25) defend against a shot as New Jersey Devils left wing Ondrej Palat (18) pressures them during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) blocks a shot during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

New Jersey Devils center Paul Cotter (47) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) defends against a shot during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)