(Montreal) Supporting players stood out in the Montreal Canadiens’ 7-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, allowing them to reach the 20-game plateau this season.
Posted at 9:49 p.m.
Updated at 11:12 p.m.
In addition to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Chris Wideman, Christian Dvorak and Kale Clague hit the mark for the Canadian (20-40-11), who bounced back after falling 6-3 in front Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. Clague, Wideman and Brendan Gallagher also added two assists each.
Interim head coach Martin St-Louis praised Wideman after the game for his professionalism and tenacity. After all, Wideman had been left out in the previous two games in order to provide some playing time for the organization’s young prospects.
““Wide” is a super good pro. He’s a super good hockey player and a very popular guy in the bedroom. […] He’s a team guy, and it takes that on every team: guys who think more about the logo on the front of the jersey than the name on the back. “Wide’, that’s it,” St-Louis said via videoconference of his 32-year-old veteran.
St-Louis, however, agreed that he did not appreciate the overall performance of his flock. Far from there.
“Do I prefer to win a game 2-1 or 7-4? It depends on the kind of game. You can win a game 2-1 and have a lot of chances to score, and you can win a game 7-4 and haven’t given up many chances – the other team was just more opportunistic than you. It depends. You have to be honest with our performance, and in the second period we just weren’t there,” said St-Louis.
Tomas Tatar, AJ Greer, Ty Smith and Jesper Bratt fought back for the Devils (24-41-6), who suffered a fifth straight loss.
It was the third game between the two teams this season, and the Devils had won the first two. Moreover, it was the first time the Habs won in regulation in New Jersey since January 20, 2017.
Veteran Jake Allen made his fifth straight start in front of the Habs net, stopping a total of 33 shots.
For their part, the Devils sent ex-CH goalkeeper Andrew Hammond into the fray. The “Hamburglar” had a difficult evening and ended the evening with 13 saves. Nico Daws came on as backup early in the third period and stopped six more shots.
The Bleu-blanc-rouge will now travel to Toronto for its Saturday night game against the Maple Leafs.
It should be noted that three changes had been made to the formation of the Canadian for this match. Forward Tyler Pitlick along with defenders Clague and Wideman were in uniform, replacing forward Paul Byron and defenders Justin Barron and Jordan Harris.
Byron and Barron — who scored his first career NHL goal in the final game against the Senators — remained in Montreal, while Harris accompanied the team to New Jersey.
An explosive start
Both teams had an explosive start to the game, as they exchanged three goals in the space of just 2:36 in the first period.
Suzuki first opened the scoring by beating Hammond with a precise wrist shot at 4:35. Then, Evans doubled the lead with a powerful slap shot into the top corner, above the glove of the Devils goaltender. This was his 10and goal of the campaign.
Ex-Canadian player Tatar then narrowed the lead to 2-1 at 7:11, but Caufield — him again! — capped the visitors’ first-half attacking push by beating Hammond with a precise wrist shot on the breakaway, with 6:16 to go. It was his third goal in as many games, and his 17and in total in 2021-22. Allen then signaled a few times in the middle period to hold the lead at 3-1, including frustrating Janne Kuokkanen on a partial breakaway.
However, as was the case in the first period, the teams exchanged a net each in the space of 1:20. Greer first took advantage of a favorable rebound by rounding Allen’s net to flicker the light red, then Armia fooled Hammond’s vigilance with a pinpoint shot. It was the Canadiens’ fourth goal in 14 shots.
Things didn’t improve much for Hammond early in the third period. Wideman, then Dvorak beat him in the space of 15 seconds at the start of the engagement to chase him out of the match. Daws took over and completed the game.
Afterwards, Smith and Bratt closed the gap to 6-4, but Clague completed the scoring for the Canadian.
Locker Room Echoes
Chris Wideman had his first career NHL three-pointer after being sidelined in the previous two games. He didn’t blame interim head coach Martin St-Louis for making that decision.
“I’m lucky, and very grateful, to be able to be here right now and get this opportunity. I was paying for my own clubs at the same time last year. I appreciate the chance to be part of this team, and it’s special every time I’m in the starting lineup. So I did a reset, just did my job and contributed to the successes of the team. »
Nick Suzuki didn’t believe his former teammate, Andrew Hammond, was as bad as some believe in net for the Devils.
“I scored on a three-on-two downhill, then Cole on a breakaway and Jake (Evans) on a veiled shot. I don’t think he (Hammond) was that bad; we were just lucky the puck got into the net. And we didn’t play very well either. »
Jake Evans praised the work of goalkeeper Jake Allen, who signed his ninth victory of the campaign.
“He was excellent again. Since he made his return to the game, he has been our anchor. We had a good start to the game, then we got a bit looser, but he (Allen) kept the lead. Then in third we realized we were lucky to lead and tried to help him more. »