Sunday, the Devils beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-0, on the road. Jacob Markström collected his first shutout of the season in the win. The victory propels New Jersey to 40-34-3 on the season.
Recap
Period One
The Devils came out strong in this one, getting the first power play of the game. While they failed to score on their chances during the man-advantage, they were able to capitalize shortly after. Jack Hughes snuck a shot five-hole on Jacob Fowler which went off the far post before being tapped in by Timo Meier. The Canadiens had a late push in the first, but Markström and the Devils’ defense stood strong. New Jersey led 1-0 after one.
Period Two
The Canadians continued their push from the end of the first period to start the second, but the Devils were able to hold them off. The two teams went back and forth killing penalties and keeping the other squad to the outside. That was until Cody Glass made a nice move around Mike Matheson and fired a shot through the wickets of Fowler to double the Devils’ lead late in the second period. It was 2-0 after two.
Period Three
The third period is where things started to get chippy. In the opening minute, Luke Hughes was hit hard into the board by Zach Bolduc and went back at him with a light cross check. The cross check was what was called for a penalty, but that didn’t stop Connor Brown and Johnathan Kovacevic from stepping in and defending their young teammate. Kovacevic got a 10-minute misconduct, on top of the Devils going to the kill for two minutes. Despite being down two defenseman, New Jersey had a sound penalty, a theme on Sunday night.
With seven minutes to go, Jack Hughes was hit by Josh Anderson as he crossed the blue line, which Brenden Dillon took exception to. Dillon and Anderson went after each other, and Dillon was given an extra two as well as a game misconduct for instigating. The Devils penalty kill stayed fantastic, however, and a couple of minutes later, Connor Brown would seal the game with an empty net goal. New Jersey split the back-to-back against Montreal, taking Sunday’s game 3-0.
Game Notes
The Hughes Line
The Devils have been hot since the Olympic break, but Jack Hughes’ line has been especially great. Hughes, Bratt, and Brown at 5v5 have a 54.80 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and 54.42 expected goals percentage (xG%). The trio have also combined for 24 goals in those 20 games.
Markström Shuts the Door
The Devils played great defensively on Sunday night, allowing 2.5 expected goals (xG) at all strengths and just 0.41 xG on four penalties. However, Markström still had to make his fair share of stops and he was great. He collected his first shutout in a calendar year in one of his better performances of the season.
What’s Next
The Devils start their final homestand of the season Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 pm ET.