The magic of the Canadian continued to operate, Sunday evening at the Prudential Center, but the troop of Martin St-Louis still suffered another defeat.
Yegor Sharangovich made the cut in the seventh round shootout and the New Jersey Devils beat Montreal 3-2.
The Habs had to empty the tank on Saturday to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2, Saturday at the Bell Centre. Facing a two-goal deficit against the Devils, he managed to draw on his resources once again.
The Canadian still suffered a seventh defeat in his last 10 outings (3-3-4).
Sharangovich scored the shootout winner with a good shot from the mitt side. Nico Daws then stopped Paul Byron’s attempt with his shield.
Jack Hughes scored both goals for the Devils (24-37-5) in regulation time. Daws made 31 saves in the 65 minutes of play.
Josh Anderson and Rem Pitlick scored for the Canadian (18-37-11). Samuel Montembeault stopped 30 shots before the shootout.
Forwards Mathieu Perreault and Jesse Ylönen have been added to the Habs roster in relief of Tyler Pitlick and Michael Pezzetta, who suffered upper-body injuries the day before.
Defensively, William Lagesson gave way to Justin Barron, who was playing his first game with the Canadiens after being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
The Canadiens will make their next outing on Tuesday, when they visit the Florida Panthers.
Another lift
Nick Suzuki quickly knocked on the door, but Daws made the save with his shield during a two against one from the Canadian in the first seconds of the game.
Anderson also got a great opportunity to open the scoring, escaping behind the Devils defence. Daws closed the door again.
The young attackers of the Devils reported themselves a little later. Jesper Bratt pulled off a great maneuver ahead of Rem Pitlick, but then came up against Montembeault. Seconds later, Hughes outflanked Joel Edmundson, but Montembeault made another great save.
Montembeault shone again a few minutes later, stretching the left pad to stop Nico Hischier’s deflection on a Sharangovich snap in front of the net.
The Devils finally opened the scoring with 44 seconds left in the first period. Hughes took advantage of an errant pass from Montembeault and beat the Canadiens goalie on the glove side.
The second period was less animated, but the Devils finally widened the gap on the power play with 5:44 left in the engagement. After a long streak in Canadian territory, Hughes moved the ropes with a one-timer.
The Canadian threatened during a power play of two players for 56 seconds late in the second period. Daws frustrated Suzuki and Christian Dvorak in quick succession.
Anderson finally closed the gap as the teams came back to even strength, with 2:24 left in the second period. Ylönen’s one-timer deflected off his stick before landing in the goal.
The Canadian had trouble threatening Daws’ net in the third period, but Pitlick eventually got everyone back to square one with 42 seconds left in regulation. He was able to shoot into a gaping cage after a magnificent blindly backhand pass from Dvorak.
Both teams came close to ending the debate in overtime. Bratt and Hischier reached the posts for the Devils, while on the Canadian side, Mike Hoffman saw one of his shots hit the two posts without ever crossing the goal line.
Sharangovich then made the difference in the shootout.