The Captain Leads His Team Past Montreal, 4-3 | GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - Et voila! The Devils are back in the win column!

Nico Hischier not only broke the 2-2 tie against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday afternoon, he also broke a lengthy power play goalless streak for the Devils with that third period tally.

The captain cut through the center of the ice with a look of determination in his eyes and using his lower body strength to fend pass the Montreal defender on his tail to send a backhand shot past Montreal netminder Jake Allen for a 3-2 lead at 13:33 of the third period. Jesper Bratt gave the Devils a 4-2 lead with less than five minutes to play, streaking up the ice through the neutral-zone beating Allen.

“Toff makes a nice play there,” Hischier said of his goal. “I was hoping he’d see me there, I had a lot of speed so I was able to go on a breakaway. Just tried to go across the crease and somewhere it went in. I don’t know where, but it went in.”

New Jersey win a very important game, collecting two important points enroute to the victory against Montreal.

“Big game, but like I said earlier, there are only big games coming up,” Hischier said. “Now we focus on tomorrow, a 1 o’clock game and find a way again to win a game.”

On two separate occasions the Devils were forced to play down a goal to the Canadiens and twice they tied up the game. After a slow but steady start to the first period, the Devils and Canadiens entered the second period without goals.

The Canadiens broke through first, with a goal by veteran forward Brendan Gallagher, before Timo Meier's 11th of the season tied the game at one. Playing from behind again, after Nick Suzuki made it 2-1 Montreal at 13:07 of the second, Ondrej Palat fresh off the bench beat Montreal's goaltender Jake Allen with a snapshot to tie the game for a second time.

Suzuki'a second goal of the game brought Montreal within one with less than two minutes to play.

Of his teams performance, head coach Lindy Ruff said there was a lot to like.

“The power play goal that gave us the lead," he said, "I thought some great desperation, some blocked shots, that one by Timo that led to the Bratt goal in a tough game. We’re playing a lot of hockey in a few days, took the lead and did it with the power play. Our discipline was good in the game, we didn’t take any penalties, a lot of good stuff.”

Here are some observations from the game:

• Meier made an enormous play that led to the 4-2 goal by Jesper Bratt, putting his body on the line, with a shot block to the leg off a booming shot from Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj. It’s part of the sacrifices he says that it’s going to take from the team to make their final push this season, despite it being one of the more painful assists he’s had.

“That (shot block) always feels better when you score,” Meier said, “Overall we had to put it on the line, everything, to get those two points and that’s what it takes.

• Colin Miller returned to the Devils lineup and he took on an added responsibility, having his booming shot quarterback the second power play unit for New Jersey. Miller was on the backend of a unit that consisted of Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, Ondrej Palat and Erik Haula.

• Brendan Smith moved up from defense to play on the fourth line this afternoon. It's a spot that Smith has from time-to-time played at this season. To begin the game, Smith was lined up with Curtis Lazar and Alexander Holtz, however as the team was looking for more of an offensive spush in their game, the coaching staff employed a rotation of offensive forwards on that left wing spot. Both Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt spent significant extra shifts on that line throughout the game.

Smith did not play any shifts after the first period. 

"You look at it, we only dressed 11 forwards, really," Ruff said, "I gave Brendan a couple of shifts up-front but really felt the importance of this game was whoever was going well was going to play and I thought the top three gave us a good night and we’re going to need more bodies tomorrow on a back-to-back. Those guys that didn’t play as much, they need to be an important piece for us tomorrow.”

• Timo Meier, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt spent the latter half of the game playing as the top line, while Jack Hughes found himself with Tyler Toffoli and Dawson Mercer as the game clock ticked away.

• Kevin Bahl's assist on Timo Meier's goal was his ninth point of the season, setting a new career-high for the Devils defenseman. 

“I think he made a heck of a play to Timo on his goal," Ruff analyzed post-game. "I think we talk about shooting the puck, not shooting the puck, there is a case where if he burries his head and shoots it, maybe we don’t score. But he had his head up, spotted him off the back side net and made a heck of a play.”

• This afternoon's game showcased the only two players currently playing in the NHL who are from the province of Newfoundland, Canada. Dawson Mercer is from Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, and the Canadiens Alex Newhook is from St. John's, Newfoundland.

In a similar vien, this afternoon's game was showcased nationally in Slovakia with the top two Slovak players currently in the league playing this afternoon. Montreal's Juraj Slafkovsky, taken first overall in 2022, and New Jersey's Simon Nemec, taken 2nd overall in 2022, are currently two of the most popular Slovak players in their country. Because it was a 2 p.m. Eastern time game, the game was played at the reasonable hour of 8 p.m.

• Nathan Bastian missed the game after being placed on Injured Reserve on Friday evening. Bastian suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday against the Rangers and it has been indicated that the forward is expected to miss at least a bit of time.

• Tampa Bay, the team New Jersey faces on Sunday afternoon, won their Saturday matchup with the Islanders. The Devils are chasing the Lightning who hold the second Wild Card spot in the playoff race and keep pace with their victory this afternoon.