Moore’s OT Goal Propels Devils Past Canadiens

The Devils traveled north to Montreal to face the Canadiens just 24 hours after a tough shootout loss to the same team. New Jersey had gotten a point out of that game and came within a hair of winning in the shootout, but it was still rough for the team to take. In the Montreal end of the back-to-back home-and-home, the Devils would look to bounce back against the top team in the NHL.

The goaltending matchup remained the same from Friday night: Cory Schneider against Mike Condon. Cory would wind up with 30 saves on the game, while Carey Price’s understudy would make 28 saves. Both goalies again played really well, with Schneider particularly keeping New Jersey in a game that could have gotten ugly fast.

Things remained scoreless through one. Alex Galchenyuk continued his scoring assault when he broke through at 9:06 of the second, tipping in a Nathan Beaulieu shot. Midway through the third, Patrik Elias was called for interference, putting Montreal on the power play. Galchenyuk again victimized the Devils when he wristed one by Schneider at 8:05.

From there, the Canadiens, a team that owns the third period and has outscored their opponents by an obscene number of goals in that frame, came apart.

The Devils cut the lead in half when Travis Zajac spun out of the near corner in the offensive zone, giving the puck to Adam Larsson at the right point. Larsson fired the puck on net with Elias stationed in front. Patty tipped the puck behind Condon at 11:01 and it was 2-1, Montreal. Larsson had originally been given credit for the goal until it was changed to Elias. It was Patty’s first in his short season so far.

Late in the third, with Schneider pulled from the Devils’ net, the faceoff came deep in the Habs’ zone. Zajac took the draw and got some help from Adam Henrique, who jumped into the circle after Zajac neutralized Tomas Plekanec and sent it to John Moore at the point. Moore moved it over to Kyle Palmieri, whose one-timer found twine and the Devils had tied the game with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

When time ran out, the Devils had taken two of a possible four points from the Habs, as they headed to overtime for the second straight night. This one, however, would be different.

Both teams had chances. Damon Severson got away with what looked like a tripping call on PK Subban after trying to bank the puck around the 2013 Norris Trophy winner. But the Devils got the ultimate chance when Elias poked the puck free from a Montreal player, moving it ahead to Henrique who he sprung for a breakaway. With Sven Andrighetto on his tail, Henrique dropped the puck to a trailing John Moore, who shot. Condon made the initial save, but Moore jammed his own rebound in and gave the Devils a miraculous win in the Bell Centre.

New Jersey had played hard in two straight against the Habs and were able to come out with a dramatic win in the second game. The Devils will try to use this as a launching pad to bigger things. Their next five games come against teams that missed the playoffs last season, although, like Steve Cangialosi pointed out during the MSG broadcast, there are no soft games in the NHL. After all, while the Devils beat league-leading Montreal tonight, they also lost to league-bottom feeder Edmonton earlier this month.

Next up, Patrick Roy’s struggling Colorado Avalanche come to Newark and the Devils will look to keep that momentum rolling. While tonight was a great victory, you are only as good as your next game in the NHL and the Devils know that.

Devils Go Toe-to-Toe with Habs, Lose in Shootout

The Montreal Canadiens quickly established themselves as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference for 2015-16. Tonight, in the New Jersey half of a home-and-home, back-to-back set with the Habs, the Devils were able to stay with them, even out-playing them for two periods. In the end, though, after 65 minutes failed to yield a winner, it took extra rounds in a shootout to finally put the Devils down.

For the Devils, Tyler Kennedy, who was signed to a two-way, one year contract earlier in the day, would make his debut. Kennedy had been traveling with the team since they were in Calgary, but with Jiri Tlusty being put on injured reserve, a roster spot was open and Kennedy was inserted into the lineup.

In goal, it was a battle between Cory Schneider and Canadiens backup Mike Condon. Condon, who played college hockey for the Princeton Tigers, was filling in for an injured Carey Price. Price hurt his leg the other night against the Rangers in a Habs win at Madison Square Garden and is not projected to return for some time.

Knowing that the Canadiens were without the reigning Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy winner in goal, the Devils would try to sneak a few past a goaltender who only made his NHL debut in October.

The first period saw no scoring, but the Devils did outshoot Montreal 9-5, giving the Devils something positive to build on going into the intermission.

The second period would see the Devils with Montreal on their heels, peppering them with odd-man rushes and shots on Condon. New Jersey finally broke the 0-0 tie when Adam Henrique, who has been on a tear lately, scored at 1:09 of the period. Montreal turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Lee Stempniak grabbed it, playing it over to Henrique, who played back-and-forth with John Moore before snapping it behind Condon to put the Devils up 1-0.

At 8:15 of the second, Montreal’s PK Subban took a tripping call to put the Devils up a man. The Canadiens power play and the Devils power play were about evenly ranked going into the night, with the Habs just working at a slightly better pace. The Devils would connect on this power play, putting them up 2-0. Patrik Elias, Mike Cammalleri and Stempniak played tic-tac-toe on the play, with Stempniak finishing at the side of Condon’s goal crease at 9:06 of the period.

But from there, Montreal slowly found their way back into the game. Sven Andrighetto scored at 15:17 of the second to make it 2-1. But the third period has been the Habs’ time this season. They are a good third period team and they applied a lot of pressure to New Jersey until finally breaking through at 11:14 of the third when Alex Galchenyuk scored on a pretty move, moving to his backhand on a breakaway to tie the game at two.

The Devils had stayed in the game partly due to the play of Cory Schneider. He was great again, making 25 saves en route to being named the game’s second star.

The game remained tied through regulation, with the Devils having earned a point against one of the top teams in the NHL; they would look to finish it 3-on-3, where they have not lost this season so far. Montreal is 1-1 in overtime.

Overtime, in keeping with the theme of the game was extremely exciting. The Devils seemed to have things in hand when Andrighetto went off for holding at 2:24 into the extra session. Up a man, they allowed Tomas Plekanec to bank the puck off the glass to himself and skate his way around Eric Gelinas, giving him a breakaway. Gelinas had no choice but to hook him around his hands to slow him up. He got whistled for hooking and things would be back to 3-on-3 for about one minute and then Montreal would go on an abbreviated power play to end the game. Cory again came up big and the game was headed to a shootout.

Up first was Galchenyuk, who beat Schneider top shelf, glove side after twisting him into a pretzel. With the Habs up in the shootout, Condon stopped Cammalleri. David Desharnais missed his opportunity for Montreal and Jacob Josefson was up for the Devils.

Josefson, who has been struggling to score in regular conditions, has been almost Mr. Automatic in shootouts. Sure enough, he used a head fake and went to his backhand, beating Condon over his glove to even the shootout at 1-1. The Canadiens Max Pacioretty missed his opportunity and Stempniak was up for the Devils to finish. He almost did too, beating Condon only to hit the far post with his shot, keeping it at 1-1.

Lars Eller and Adam Henrique both missed their chances and Sven Andrighetto was up for Montreal to give them a lead. The Swiss born right wing fired one past Schneider’s glove to give the Canadiens what would be their game-winner, as Elias would not be able to keep the Devils alive in round five of the shootout.

While Montreal came away with the hard-fought victory, New Jersey has something to be proud of. The Devils worked hard in this game and skated with one of the NHL’s best. They certainly came out with more energy than they had at the beginning of the Columbus game.

Next up, the Devils travel to Quebec tomorrow night to take on the Habs in the backend of the home-and-home back-to-back on Hockey Night in Canada. The Devils will try to pick up a full two points in Montreal and show that they can be competition for some of the league’s upper echelon.