Devils Down Canadiens 5-3 With Gutsy Effort – Hockey Writers – New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils took down the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 5-3 to mark their second straight victory. They are now 9-5-2 on the season. Their penalty kill was perfect for the contest, leading them to 84.1% – ninth in the NHL. Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes had three-point nights.

“It feels like we're going to be out soon,” Jack Hughes said Hockey Writers following his strong performance.

Recap of the game

The Devils opened the scoring with a highlight-reel effort from Jack Hughes, who danced around the Canadiens defense and made a perfect feed to Jesper Bratt for the tap-in. Hughes was not drafted in that draft. About 12 minutes later, he made another great feed – this time to Ondrej Palat – who snapped it past Sam Montembeault to double the lead.

Don't bother us. We're keeping an eye on this PB&J repeat goal. pic.twitter.com/aeGiD5SONu

– New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 8, 2024

In the second, both teams traded chances until Jonas Siegenthaler cleared the puck, leading to Alex Newhook's goal. It was one Markstrom really wanted, as he got a shot from 40 feet, but it wasn't enough. Siegenthaler redeemed himself, after a wild sequence resulted in him ripping a single home and restoring the lead to two goals. Minutes later, Brendan Gallagher scored and put one past Markstrom to make it 3-2.

The third period was a real test for the Devils: holding onto the home lead was a struggle last season. Markstrom made key stops and turned J. Hughes called again, and hit a break midway through the frame. That seemed to energize the crowd, who echoed chants of “HUUUGHES”. But a few minutes later, Newhook delivered the second with a Datsyuk-ian flip over Markstrom's shoulder.

The Devils were able to block last-ditch efforts from the Canadiens and put the game away except for Bratt's empty-net goal. They will be playing again on Saturday against the New York Islanders.