The New Jersey Devils lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at the Prudential Center, their first shootout loss of the season. The Devils played a strong game and had a noticeable edge for most of the contest, but Montreal was opportunistic and jumped out to a 3-0 lead, which proved too much for the Devils to overcome completely. With the loss, the Devils fell to 39-34-3 while the Canadiens improved to 45-21-10.
Game Recap
Period One
Montreal had the first dangerous chance of the game after Cole Caufield snuck behind the defense, but his shot was sent wide.
The Devils had an opportunity, and Jesper Bratt rang his shot from the slot off the post.
New Jersey had a hefty shot advantage as the period passed the halfway point, but couldn’t break through on the scoreboard.
The Canadiens surged but were tagged with a penalty, sending the Devils to a power play with just under eight minutes to play in the opening frame. They had some chances, but nothing went.
Montreal responded with a few chances and eventually scored with a heavy shot from Jayden Struble that beat Jake Allen at 15:58. Caufield and Arber Xhekaj had the assists.
The Devils responded, forcing Jakub Dobes to make a nice save on Connor Brown.
New Jersey was tagged for slashing with a few seconds left in the period, but went to the locker room down by just one.
The Devils outshot the Canadiens 15-9 in the frame.
Period Two
New Jersey killed the penalty to begin the period.
Lenni Hameenaho had an excellent chance just off the bench, but Dobes kept it out.
The Devils were tagged with a delay of game penalty, giving the Canadiens another power play near the halfway point. At 8:12, Ivan Demidov cashed in with the man advantage, with assists from Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
New Jersey was sloppy after giving up the goal, and the Canadiens capitalized again, this time Lane Hutson scoring from the slot at 9:28.
The Devils responded and finally broke through, with a snipe from a sharp angle into the top corner of the net by Dawson Mercer at 13:08. Timo Meier and Nico Hischier tallied the assists.
New Jersey surged again, forcing Dobes to bail out his team with numerous saves.
The Devils were tagged with a double minor penalty for high-sticking with just over four minutes to play in the period.
Bratt and Jack Hughes had a shorthanded two-on-one opportunity that Dobes fought off. They connected again with another odd-man opportunity, and Jack Hughes lit the lamp at 17:40 for the shorthanded tally. Bratt and Jonas Siegenthaler had the assists.
While still shorthanded, the Devils continued to keep the pressure on. Jack Hughes had another partial breakaway opportunity turned away by Dobes as the penalty expired, and the Prudential Center crowd rose to its feet.
The Devils outshot Montreal 10-8 in the frame.
Period Three
New Jersey had a slight edge to begin the final frame, but weren’t dominating play like at the end of the second.
The Devils remained on the front foot, but Dobes was strong in net. They had another flurry of chances from Meier and Hischier, yet the game remained tied.
The Canadiens went the other way, and Allen fought off a shot with his glove, keeping the Devils in the game in the dying minutes.
New Jersey pulled Allen in favor of the extra attacker, and Meier immediately scored to tie the contest at 17:45. Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton added the assists.
Play resumed, and Jack Hughes deflected the puck into the crowd, and the Devils went to the penalty kill with just under two minutes left in regulation. Nonetheless, New Jersey’s penalty kill got the game to overtime.
The Devils outshot Montreal 37-27 in regulation.
Overtime
The Devils killed the remaining four seconds of the penalty to begin overtime.
New Jersey had the first few chances of overtime, putting a flurry of dangerous shots on Dobes from in close. The Canadiens went the other way, and Allen made the stop.
The Devils nearly ended the game on a two-on-one opportunity, but Bratt fired wide. Montreal answered with a slot shot that Allen turned aside. Dobes flubbed the puck at the other end, nearly putting it off Hischier and into his own net, but it stayed out, and the game went to a shootout.
In the shootout, Montreal earned the extra point in the fifth round.
The Devils outshot the Canadiens 38-29 in the loss.
Takeaways
While the Devils ultimately lost the game, their resilience was the true story of the night. After going down by three before the midway point of the contest, the Devils slowly chipped away and got themselves back into the game.
They put together a completely dominant stretch of hockey in the second half of the middle frame, including a four-minute penalty kill that featured a shorthanded goal courtesy of Jack Hughes.
These types of performances, even with the loss, are what the Devils needed to find earlier in the season, and need to continue producing in the future. The “loser points” gained from overtime losses have proven valuable in helping teams get into the playoffs, and the Devils could have benefited from forcing a few more contests beyond regulation.
The nature of the NHL’s point system rewards teams for everything but regulation losses, and the Devils, among other issues, did not take advantage of that this season, with just three points from overtime losses.
Up Next
The Devils are right back in action on Easter Sunday, when they take on the Montreal Canadiens, again, at the Bell Centre.
This is the third and final meeting between the two teams this season. The Devils took the first contest 4-3 in overtime on November 6th. The Canadiens tied the season series with their shootout win on Saturday night.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. EDT on MSGSN.
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