Saturday night the New Jersey Devils (27-17-6) visited the Montreal Canadiens (24-20-4) at Centre Bell arena with some old friends of the Canadiens, Jake Allen and Jonathon Kovacevic, who used to play for Montreal. The Devils and ex-Canadiens would be able to take the win in overtime with a score of 4-3.
In New Jersey’s game Wednesday, goaltender Jacob Markstrom sustained a sprained MCL, which has caused the Devils to call up Issac Poulter to back up Jake Allen in this match.
The first period would start with Montreal dominating New Jersey almost immediately, as they’d be peppering shot after shot on Jake Allen, who made many impressive saves to keep the game scoreless. The Devils would fire back, though, and during a penalty kill they acquired from an interference call, they’d limit the Canadiens to only one shot on net.
New Jersey’s overtake wouldn’t end there as Nico Hischier (24) would light the lamp and score the first goal of the game to give the Devils the lead 1-0. He was assisted by Jesper Bratt (39) and Stefan Noesen (12). Only 2 minutes later New Jersey struck again as Jesper Bratt (16) would sneak one past Jakub Dobes to make the score 2-0. Regulation ended and the Devils headed to the locker room with their 2-0 lead.
New Jersey’s defense is one to note as they helped the Devils sustain time in Montreal’s zone, which led them to taking the lead in the first period.
The second period would commence with domination from the Devils, which was quickly overruled by a turnover that led to Nick Suzuki (15) scoring on former teammate Jake Allen from Cole Caufield (21) and Juraj Slafkovsky (2), to put Montreal only behind by 1. The score would become 2-1.
Five minutes later Mike Matheson was called for tripping and New Jersey headed to the powerplay. Throughout the powerplay Jakub Dobes was impressive between the pipes as he made sure the Devils would be unable to extend their lead, but Tomas Tatar (5) would make a relentless play only a few minutes later and he was able to give the Devils a two-goal lead once again. Curtis Lazar (2) and Dougie Hamilton (26) would assist him and the score was 3-1. The period would only continue to be high scoring as the Canadiens would strike again. Cole Caufield (25) would find the back of the net from Nick Suzuki (34) and Juraj Slafkovsky (21), and Montreal would only trail by one once again at 3-2. The period would then end with a score of 3-2.
The third period kicked off with both teams having high energy and hopes to tie the game or uphold the lead. Montreal would be the one to make their wish come true as Alexandre Carrier (2) tied the game for the Canadiens for the first time this game. He was assisted by Nick Suzuki (35) and Kaiden Guhle (10); the game would be tied at 3-3. The tension on the ice was high as both teams battled for the lead. Regulation would end with a tie, though, and the game would go into overtime.
Jack Hughes (19) would end up being the hero of the game as he scored in overtime from Timo Meier (20) to secure the win for the Devils. This win makes it clear that the Devils offense is starting to click once again; the bottom 6 and the top 6 are producing goals and finishing their chances. One bump in the road, though, could end up being that Captain Nico Hischier took a nasty cross check to the chest and was unable to play in the third period, but his injury will be further evaluated.
The Devils play their next game Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Flyers’ home arena at 7 p.m.
