Monahan and Coyle lead Blue Jackets past Devils 5-3 to stop 4-game skid

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Sean Monahan scored twice and the Columbus Blue Jackets overcame an early two-goal deficit to beat the New Jersey Devils 5-3 on Monday night, snapping a four-game skid.

Charlie Coyle scored the go-ahead goal 6:40 into the third period and added two assists for the Blue Jackets, who were 0-1-3 in their previous four games. Miles Wood had a goal and an assist, and Denton Mateychuk also scored.

Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves, and defenseman Zach Werenski had two assists.

Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who opened a 2-0 lead 3:03 into the game. It was Meier's 10th goal of the season and fifth in the last six games.

Jesper Bratt had two assists for the second straight game, and Hischier had one to give him 12 points in the past six games. Jake Allen stopped 19 shots.

New Jersey (16-9-1) was handed its second consecutive loss in regulation at home after starting 9-0-1 at the Prudential Center this season. The Devils missed an opportunity to move ahead of Carolina for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Columbus (12-9-5) improved to 5-5-2 in the past 12 games and climbed out of last place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the New York Rangers.

Monahan scored on a power-play wrist shot at 7:14 of the third, assisted by Isac Lundestrom, to put Columbus up 4-2.

The Blue Jackets won 62.3% of the faceoffs in the game.

Blue Jackets: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.

Devils: Host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

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

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins defends the goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New Jersey Devils' Jonas Siegenthaler, left, and Columbus Blue Jackets' Adam Fantilli fight during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Newark, N.J., Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New Jersey Devils' Paul Cotter, left, fights with Columbus Blue Jackets' Brendan Smith during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Newark, N.J., Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Columbus Blue Jackets' Miles Wood celebrates his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Columbus Blue Jackets' Sean Monahan, center, celebrates his goal with teammates during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

HONG KONG (AP) — The father of a U.S.-based activist wanted by Hong Kong authorities was convicted Wednesday for attempting to deal with his daughter's financial assets in the city, in the first court case of its kind brought under a homegrown national security law.

Kwok Yin-sang's daughter Anna is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. Authorities in 2023 offered 1 million Hong Kong dollars (about $127,900) for information leading to her arrest and later banned anyone from handling any funds for her — widely seen as part of a yearslong crackdown on challenges against Beijing's rule following the massive, anti-government protests in 2019.

Kwok, 69, was arrested in April 2025 under the security law, locally known as Article 23 legislation, enacted a year before. He was accused of having attempted to obtain funds from an insurance policy under his daughter's name. He pleaded not guilty.

Acting principal magistrate Cheng Lim-chi found him guilty on Wednesday, saying Kwok must have known his daughter was an absconder and he was attempting to handle her assets.

According to previous hearings, Kwok bought the insurance policy for Anna when she was a toddler and she gained control of it when she reached 18 years old. The father in 2025 wanted to cancel the policy and get funds from it, the court heard.

Kwok’s lawyer, Steven Kwan, pleaded for a lesser sentence for his client, saying there was no evidence to show his client was trying to get the money to send to his daughter. He suggested the judge consider a 14-day prison term.

While the maximum sentence for his charge is seven years of imprisonment, but his case was heard at the magistrates’ courts, which normally hands down a maximum sentence of two years.

His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 26.

Authorities have accused Anna Kwok of demanding for foreign sanctions, blockade and engaging in other hostile activities against China and Hong Kong through meeting foreign politicians and government officials.

“Today, my father was convicted simply for being my father,” said the younger Kwok on X. “This is transnational repression.”

She said his charge was founded on “incoherent fiction” and she had not received or sought funds from her father or anyone in Hong Kong. She added that the moves from the city's government will not discourage her from carrying on her activism.

Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Joey Siu said the conviction was apparently politically motivated.

“It also sets a dangerous precedent, designed to terrify and silence others who continue to speak out about Hong Kong issues from overseas,” she said in a statement, calling for Kwok's release.

The police’s bounties targeting overseas-based Hong Kong activists, including Siu and pro-democracy former lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui, have drawn criticism from the U.S. and the U.K. governments.

In 2025, Washington sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the city’s autonomy. It said Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong's national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence and harass some activists who were forced to flee overseas.

Weeks after that, China said it would sanction U.S. officials, lawmakers and leaders of nongovernmental organizations who it said have “performed poorly” on Hong Kong issues.

After Beijing imposed a 2020 national security law on the city, many leading activists were arrested or silenced. Others fled abroad and continued their advocacy for Hong Kong, a British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Both China and Hong Kong governments insist the security laws were crucial for the city's stability.

This story was corrected in an earlier version to reflect that Kwok Yin-sang was arrested in April 2025, not May.

Anna Kwok, second right, speaks to Sen. Jeff Merkley at an event outside of the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., on March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Didi Tang)

Anna Kwok speaks during an event commemorating China's June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy movement in Washington D.C., on June 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Didi Tang)