(Newark) When Martin St-Louis speaks, his players listen and the team shines.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, Samuel Montembeault stopped 38 shots and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Tuesday at the Prudential Center.
After two losses despite good times against the Carolina Hurricanes and the Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis said Monday that he wanted his players to finish games and games better. That’s what they did against the Devils.
“It’s rewarding for a coach to see instant improvement,” St-Louis said. As a coach you try to convince players to do things a certain way. If they are rewarded for doing so, it is easier to convince them. The whole group has decided to buy what I’m selling them. »
The Canadian never bent his back and showed more opportunism than his opponent. Montembeault also had his say, notably making three saves on the opponent’s breakaways.
“We moved the puck well, we defended very hard, we blocked a lot of shots and Montembeault was excellent, listed St-Louis. It’s a big team win. »
Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist, while Justin Barron, Johnathan Kovacevic and Rem Pitlick also scored for the Canadian (24-29-4). Christian Dvorak has two assists.
Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer scored for the Devils (37-15-5), who have suffered just their second loss in regulation in their last nine outings (6-2-1). Jack Hughes had two assists and Vitek Vanecek made 13 saves.
The Habs lost the services of Joel Armia early in the first period. He did not return to action afterwards and the team did not provide any information regarding his condition.
The Canadian will play his next game only on Friday, when he visits the Philadelphia Flyers. He will host the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Center the following evening.
At a breakneck pace
The visitors started the meeting with a bang. Josh Anderson came close to opening the scoring after barely ten seconds, but Vanecek stopped his shot from the slot.
The Devils goaltender was also vigilant moments later, when Michael Pezzetta redirected a throw-in from Evgenii Dadonov in his direction.
Barron made sure not to waste the Canadian’s good start to the game by opening the scoring at 3:54. He took advantage of a nice backhand pass from Suzuki and beat Vanecek on the shield side.
The Devils managed to turn the tide little by little.
Montembeault stopped a point-blank shot from Ondrej Palat with around nine minutes left in the first half. He was, however, powerless against a Bratt pitch with 6:12 left in the face-off.
The Canadian put his foot back on the gas after intermission and scored twice in a 1:13 interval. Kovacevic first scored at 2:29 on a one-timer shot, then Suzuki surprised Vanecek at 3:42.
Between the two goals, Montembeault had made an important save, frustrating Miles Wood on the breakaway.
The scenario of the first twenty was repeated during the second period as the Devils quietly resumed their ease. Montembeault had to be alert to stop Erik Haula and Brendan Smith in particular.
Montembeault continued to be fuming in front of the Canadian net. He stopped Mercer on a breakaway early in the third period.
His teammates rewarded him with a fourth goal at 5:13. Pitlick completed a fine rally initiated by Dvorak and Evgenii Dadonov.
Mercer made things interesting by scoring on a comeback at 11:58 on the power play. The Canadian, however, managed to stifle the threat of the Devils comeback.
Matheson delivered the knockout blow by scoring in an empty net with 3:47 left on the clock.
Locker Room Echoes
Samuel Montembeault was particularly happy with his saves on the Devils’ three breakaways.
“I had been beaten twice on the shield side on breakaways against the Carolina Hurricanes. I worked a lot on that with Eric (Raymond, the goalkeeping coach). I’m happy to see the result today. »
Johnathan Kovacevic admitted that Habs defensemen enjoy contributing on offense.
“There was a long time when we weren’t scoring much. Now it looks like it’s contagious. We are happy with each other’s success and cheer each other on after every goal. »
Josh Anderson underlined how much the Canadian wanted to bounce back from the two most recent losses.
“When you lose two games in a row, you always hope to find your rhythm. We have revised some things, small aspects to improve. We managed to bounce back. »