Devils Drop Game in Montreal | GAME STORY

MONTREAL, Q.C. - The Canadiens scored early in the second period against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, followed by a second one late in the third and an empty-netter to shutout New Jersey.

The Devils dropped their second preseason game and first on the road, 3-0 in Montreal.

The night was riddled with penalties - 19 to be exact - disrupting a proper flow of the game and putting special teams to work.

New Jersey were awarded six power plays, while the Canadiens had eight. Neither team could capitalize on their man-advantage opportunities.

"I did like the way the guys dealt with it," head coach Sheldon Keefe said, "I thought Siegenthaler and Kovacevic on defense were really good for us, penalty kill especially, that's encouraging, if I could pull things out of the game."

Jonas Siegenthaler played 20:06 including 5:45 on the penalty kill, and Kovacevic had a total time on ice of 22:08 and 6:16 on the penalty kill.

The Devils' roster was dominated by players trying to make an impression on the coaching staff while also dressing several NHL regulars, who were tasked with another preseason game gearing up for Wednesday night at Prudential Center. Most of the Devils stars remained back in New Jersey. The Wednesday night roster will likely be very close to the NHL roster starting the season in Prague.

Jake Allen and Nico Daws shared the net on Tuesday night, and both goaltenders let in a single goal each.

Michael Pezzetta had a two-goal night, including the late empty-netter, and captain Nick Suzuki also scored for Montreal.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Jonas Siegenthaler and Curtis Lazar were given the A's on their jerseys tonight in Montreal.

• The line of Paul Cotter, Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian absorbed an abundance of minutes, as the only full NHL line on the night's roster. All three were tasked with a combination of 5-on-5, power play and penalty killing time. By the second period, Cotter had accumulated over 14 minutes of ice time.

Cotter ended the night with 21:58 time on ice, Lazar had 17:37 and Bastian played 17:40.

“Those guys did a great job," Keefe said. "The little bit of 5-on-5 we played today, I liked the job that we did, I mean, worst case scenario quite frankly with the lineup we had with the amount of penalties (…) that made it extra challenging and for guys like Cotter and Bastian who were playing on both power play and penalty kill and Lazar who is taking on so much tonight, I was really happy with those guys.”

• This game was particularly special for a trio of Slovaks. Only a few years ago, Simon Nemec, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Filip Mesar were all drafted in the Bell Centre in a historic draft for Slovakia. Nemec was taken by New Jersey with the 2nd overall pick, while Slafkovsky went No. 1 to Montreal. Mesar was drafted 26th overall by Montreal.

Tonight, on the ice, the trio recreated their draft photo together.

• Seamus Casey played the first preseason game of his pro career, suiting up against the Canadiens. Casey, just two nights ago, was on the ice for warmups in New Jersey, although he didn't play. Tuesday night against Montreal he was tasked with playing the blueline on the second power-play unit, along with his regular 5-on-5 duties, paired with Topias Vilen.

In the third, Casey was given the opportunity to work with the night's first power play unit with Justin Dowling, Paul Cotter, Kevin Labanc and Nathan Bastian.

Casey, reflecting on his first preseason game and the magnitude under the Bell Centre lights said: "I think it’s kind of like just sink or swim. The first couple of shifts you’re just trying to keep it out of your net because everything feels like it’s coming really fast. After that, you just sink or swim. You kind of revert back to everything you’ve been working hard for and all the stuff we’ve been doing as a team and as a group for training camp. It all starts to come.”

• The Devils killers got in some extra work against the Canadiens, including a four-minute minor to Kurtis MacDermid. Nearly two-thirds of the game against Montreal was played on special teams, with 19 penalties between the two clubs.

Kovacevic led the charge in shorthanded minutes with 6:16, followed by Nemec’s 6:01.

• Nemec played his first game since he was injured late last month during Olympic qualifiers. Nemec wasn't particularly pleased with the way he played, but did say that his shoulder was feeling good.

"I did some bad decisions that led to their goals," Nemec said post-game.

Keefe shared his thoughts on Nemec's play: "He’s a young player still tying to adjust to the league, that’s the first reality. But he’s also coming off an injury that disrupted his training and preparation for training camp and it looks that way right now to me. So, he’s just got to keep with it.”

• Montreal thought they had built a two-goal lead with 11:57 to play in the second period but the play was immediately called off with Xavier Simoneau interfering with Allen's ability to make the save.

• Allen played just under half the preseason game, as scheduled. Nico Daws took over the netminding duties with 11:57 to play in the second. Allen finished with 12 saves on 13 shots, including all six he faced on the Montreal power play.