(Montreal) The Montreal Canadiens offered another lackluster performance and lost 7-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night in a duel between the worst teams in each section of the Association East.
Posted at 9:45 p.m.
The CH pinned great hopes on the break of the star game to regain strength and set the tone for its second half of the season. It will obviously be necessary to return, while he has conceded five goals or more in a fifth game in a row.
Two-time Michael McLeod, Dawson Mercer, Nico Hischier, Jesper Boqvist, Pavel Zacha and Tomas Tatar were part of the offensive festival for the Devils (16-26-5), who ended their seven-game losing streak.
Brett Kulak was the only one to find the back of the net for the Canadian (8-30-7), who suffered a seventh consecutive loss.
Cayden Primeau tried to bounce back after being kicked out of the game in his two previous starts, but it didn’t go much better for him. He ended his work night with 27 saves. Samuel Montembeault, who won the Molson Cup for the month of January, was his auxiliary, but he was not called in despite the one-sided score.
Jon Gillies completed his 22and start to his NHL career and finished his night at work with 30 saves. Gillies was only looking for his second victory this season with the Devils.
The Canadian showed signs of “rusting” early in the game, perhaps due to the fact that he was inactive for eight days. By comparison, the Devils seemed to have fresh legs, even though it was their second game in as many nights.
McLeod opened the scoring for the visitors after less than five minutes in the first half. It was already the 30and time in 45 games this season that the Canadiens allowed the first goal in a game.
Mercer doubled the Devils’ lead late in the period, and the Canadiens went into the first intermission late 0-2 with an 11-5 shots deficit.
The Canadian showed a little more commitment in the second period, but the result was the same: the Devils returned to the locker room with a comfortable lead.
After Kulak narrowed the gap to 2-1, the Devils scored three unanswered goals – those of Hischier, Boqvist and McLeod, the last two of which came in the final 67 seconds of the second period – to score a blow club to head coach Dominique Ducharme’s men.
Primeau got back in front of his net in the third period, and Zacha took advantage of a power play to beat him with an accurate shot at 3:19. Tatar completed the scoring for the Devils a few minutes later.
Christian Dvorak has been removed from the CH starting lineup, as have Rem Pitlick, Michael Pezzetta and Cédric Paquette. Dvorak made way for Ryan Poehling, who got an assist on Kulak’s net.
Head coach Lindy Ruff’s roster was without forward Jack Hughes, who was put under NHL protocol for COVID-19 after returning from the All-Star Game break.
It was the first match between the two teams in two years. The Habs and the Devils have not crossed swords since February 4, 2020, in particular because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was the fifth game of eight home stints for the Bleu-blanc-rouge. For the occasion, there were 500 spectators in the stands of the Bell Center, in accordance with the directives of the Public Health of Quebec.
The Canadian will face the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.