CANADIENS
Montreal

2-1

DEVILS
New Jersey

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Danault – Byron
Galchenyuk – Drouin – Shaw
Hudon – Plekanec – Gallagher 
Deslauriers – Froese – Carr
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Benn – Weber
Alzner – Petry
Morrow – Schlemko 
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Niemi

Scratches

Jakub Jerabek, Jacob De La Rose

Injuries

Ales Hemsky – concussion, Al Montoya – concussion, Artturi Lehkonen – lower-body

Game Report

It was a scrappy victory over a very good team. The Canadiens were looking at this game as a fresh start after a four day break to recharge. But it didn’t start out so well. The Devils scored just 81 seconds into the contest.

Jordie Benn went for a skate effectively taking himself out of the play. And Stefan Noesen was allowed to walk right in a rifle a shot into the top corner.

The Canadiens would tie the score at the 13:31 mark of the first period and have a slight shot advantage as the opening frame came to a close. But it was the Devils with the better scoring chances.

The second period was all Devils, in part due to three Canadiens penalties including a New Jersey 5-on-3 man advantage. The Habs penalty-killers, in particular Carey Price, did not allow a Devils goal. But the momentum carried New Jersey to control play in the middle frame cruising at will in the Canadiens zone and winning most of the board and  puck battles.

Montreal pushed back in the third period which featured good goaltending at both ends and some missed chances by the Canadiens. 

In overtime, Claude Julien bowed to pressure to have Tomas Plekanec on the bench when extra time got underway. Instead it was Jonathan Drouin, Max Pacioretty and Shea Weber.

Drouin promptly lost the faceoff to begin overtime and the Canadiens spent the next 40 seconds pinned in their own zone. Travis Zajac got a great chance but Carey Price came to the rescue. Drouin got a non-threatening shot on goal before the Canadiens made a change.

Alex Galchenyuk, Paul Byron and Jeff Petry played the second overtime shift with little consequence.

With his linemates changing, Galchenyuk created a turnover and got the puck up to Charles Hudon who was alone on the boards just inside the Devils blueline. Hudon battled for the puck as Galchenyuk went to the bench bringing on a fresh Tomas Plekanec. As three Devils focused on Hudon, the 23-year-old one-handed the puck to Plekanec who beat Cory Schneider five-hole.

It was a satisfying way for the Canadiens to close out their final home game of 2017. Montreal will be on the road for their remaining seven games in December.

~~~

▲    Carey Price, Andrew Shaw, Alex Galchenyuk

▼    Jonathan Drouin, power-play

1. Andrew Shaw  MTL
2. Damon Severson  NJD
3. Jordie Benn  MTL

• “I understand why [the Devils] are playing well. They’re a good hockey team. They’re fast, they compete hard. They’re doing a heck of a job and that’s what’s gratifying because we did what we had to do and we did it against a good hockey club. I have a lot of respect for what [the Devils] are doing. I saw them the other night against L.A. and they were impressive.”
•  “Our guys responded tonight by winning those one-on-one battles, especially when it counted.”

Andrew Shaw

• “We started a little slow but we tied things up and kept going. Then we got some penalties, but we worked hard on the [penalty-kill], we blocked shots, we got pucks out when we needed to and we found a way to win in overtime.”

Devils head coach John Hynes

• “He (Price) did a good job. He’s an elite goaltender. We had a shot mentality tonight but unfortunately the plays around that area didn’t go in.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

FAN FOCUS | Righting the Habs Ship https://t.co/6QFhtRvTaH #allhabs #gohabsgo pic.twitter.com/Qywtx38RQr

— All Habs (@AllHabs) December 13, 2017

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From the Press Box | Rocket Recap, World Junior Preview, Top 5 Christmas Songs [Podcast S1/E13] https://t.co/Z8ALt0VL2p pic.twitter.com/NIr7irpKux

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) December 13, 2017

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