Devils Fall to Canadiens, Home Streak Snapped | GAME STORY

Despite the two teams having very different positions in the standings, the Montreal Canadiens pulled an upset with a 5-2 victory against the Devils Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer scored the Devils' goal.
"From the start we weren't at our best. We didn't necessarily take our foot off (the gae), we didn't have it on the gas right from the start," defenseman Damon Severson said. "We like to say we didn't take them for granted, but maybe we did. They're still a really good hockey team. It's the NHL. You're going to play players and teams every night, and they took advantage of us tonight."
Justin Barron, Jonathan Kovacevic, Nick Suzuki, Rem Pitlick and Mike Matheson tallied for Montreal.
The Devils' six-game home winning streak came to an end.
"It's definitely frustrating, but I don't think we deserved it anyway," captain Nico Hischier said. "We have to just play better. We had the chances. I feel like they capitalized on their chances. That's how it goes sometimes, but we definitely need a better effort next game."

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WHAT'S NEXT
The Devils continue their four-game homestand by hosting the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night. The game can be seen on MSGSN and heard on the Devils Hockey Network, including right here at NewJerseyDevils.com. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. ET.
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Here are some observations from the game...
- Montreal really took control of the game in in the opening 3:42 of the second period. That's when Kovacevic and Suzuki scored 1:13 apart to stake a 3-1 lead and really grab hold of the momentum. - The Devils failure to convert on their opportunities is the reason they lost this game. Dawson Mercer, Miles Wood and Brendan Smith all had breakaway chances that they couldn't finish. New Jersey tilted the ice in its favor, outshooting Montreal by a 39-18 count. But, the missed chances resulted in the loss.

"It was right there," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "You look at the Wood breakaway, Smith coming out of the penalty box. We had lots of chances to change momentum. Even in the third we had chances early to get right back in it. We missed some good opportunities."

- Bratt scored his 23rd goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period. It's his third goal in the past five games. Bratt's career high for goals in a season is 26, set last year. - Jack Hughes assisted on Bratt's goal, his 35th helper of the season. Combined with his 35 goals, Hughes now has 70 points on the season in his 53rd game. Hughes becomes just the third Devils player to post 70 points or more since 2012-13, joining Bratt (2021-22, 26g-47a-73pts) and Taylor Hall (2017-18, 39g-54a-93pts). - Hughes (21 years, 283 days) collected two assists in the game, his second being his 100th career helper. He's the third-youngest Devil to reach 100 assists, bested only by Kirk Muller (20 years, 314 days) and Scott Gomez (21 years, 105 days). - Mercer picked up his 16th goal of the season, and fifth goal in the past four games, with a power-play tally halfway through the third period. It was a beautiful toe drag play on a puck right at the crease to change the angle and give himself a shooting lane. - Goaltender Vitek Vanecek lost his first game in regulation in the past 14, dropping to 12-1-1. It was a mixed game for Vanecek who allowed a couple goals he would like another chance at, but also came up with some spectacular saves. But he allowed four goals on 17 shots in the game.