Devils Postgame
Devils Overtime Win Against Canadiens is Another Costly One
Jack Hughes scores in overtime to secure the New Jersey Devils’ second victory in as many nights, but it’s another costly win.
The New Jersey Devils headed north of the boarder on Saturday to face the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
It was the first of many games without Jacob Markstrom as the Devils’ No.1 goaltender will be sidelined 4-6 weeks. The Devils have turned to former Canadiens goaltender, Jake Allen, as their starter until further notice.
In Montreal, Jakub Dobes has had a fantastic start to his NHL career, with a 5-0-0 record in his first five starts, accompanied by a .941 SV% and 1.55 GAA.
The Habs had their legs under them early, seemingly controlling the pace of play early. However, as the first period unraveled, the Devils began to tilt the ice back in their favor. Through the first 15 minutes of the opening frame, the Devils and Canadiens competed in a scoreless tie. That was until about the 16-minute mark when Jesper Bratt gained the Montreal slot, dished the puck to his left for Nico Hischier, and the Devils captain deposited the pass to give New Jersey a 1-0 lead. About two minutes later, Bratt threw a backhand chance toward Dobes and through traffic, it crossed the goal line to double the Devils’ first period lead.
The Devils opened the second period with some good, sustained pressure in the Montreal end of the ice. One solid sequence by the Canadiens the other way saw Nick Suzuki flub on finishing a tic-tac-toe chance for Montreal. However, Cole Caufield drew the attention of Devils defenders, and then found Suzuki in the slot, who scored on a one-time chance to cut the Devils lead 2-1.
New Jersey regained their two-goal lead on a goal scored by Tomas Tatar. It was a strong shift for Tatar, winning multiple puck battles below the Canadiens goal line, leading the puck toward the Habs’ slot, creating a scoring chance and then burying his own rebound. The goal was Tatar’s fifth of the season and second in his last three games.
The Canadiens struck back quick, however. Hischier committed a rare turnover in Montreal’s end of the ice. The turnover was the result of an uncalled cross-check by Suzuki against Hischier. The Montreal captain transitioned the puck to the Devils’ end, dumped the puck to Caufield who used Johnathan Kovacevic as a screen to beat Allen and make it a 3-2 game.
Hischier was clearly laboring on the bench as a result of the cross-check he received at the end of the second period. He did start the third period. However, he did not take the opening face-off, and instead, Stefan Noesen took the draw for his line.
Later in the third period, he left the game with an injury.
MORE: Devils Nico Hischier Injured, Leaves Game vs. Canadiens
A face-off in the Devils’ end of the ice was won by the Canadiens. Off the draw, William Carrier wound up and scored from the blue line, his first as a member of the Canadiens to tie the game at three.
The Devils and Canadiens required overtime. In a back and forth 3-on-3 effort, it was the Devils who claimed the extra point after Jack Hughes scored on a breakaway in the extra frame.
Allen secured his second win in as many nights, stopping 29 of 32 pucks.
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