Canadiens end Devils' home winning streak at 6

NEWARK, N.J. --Sam Montembeault made 38 saves for the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had a goal and an assist, and Christian Dvorak had two assists for the Canadiens (24-29-4), who had lost the first two of their four-game road trip.
"I felt good and was seeing the puck well," Montembeault said. "We blocked a lot of shots (28) and that helped. I remember giving up two breakaway goals on my blocker side [in a 6-2 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday] and I worked on that a lot the last few practices. I'm happy to get the stops tonight."
Montembeault, who won for the second time in his past five starts, stopped three breakaway attempts Tuesday.
Jack Hughes had two assists, and Vitek Vanecek made 13 saves for the Devils (37-15-5), who had their six-game home winning streak end. It was the first regulation loss for Vanecek in 14 games (12-1-1) since Dec. 28.
"We gave up an abnormal amount of good chances," said New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff, whose team played its fourth game in six days. "It just looked like fatigue. It looked like the team was flat this morning. We played a lot of hockey. I'm not going to sit here and make excuses. ... We've had a couple of guys that have played through illness. We need to freshen the team up and focus on the next game."

Justin Barron gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 3:54 of the first period on a snap shot from the right hash marks. Suzuki skated down the left wing and delivered a backhand pass to Barron at the top of the right face-off circle.
"I feel like we finished plays," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "I talked about not only finishing plays offensively, but to finish plays defensively. I think the past couple of games, when we got scored upon, we didn't finish the job. Tonight, I felt like we did that.
"We were able to block shots and not give them crazy Grade A chances."

Jesper Bratt tied it 1-1 at 13:48 on a snap shot from the high slot.
Johnathan Kovacevic gave Montreal a 2-1 lead at 2:29 of the second period on a snap shot from the slot.
"We were really sacrificing, bringing a lot of that energy," Kovacevic said. "I feel like they're a really great team, they're fast and really on you, but they kind of gave us some Grade A chances and we capitalized, stuck to our game plan and took advantage of our chances."
Montembeault stopped Miles Wood on a breakaway at 2:47, and Suzuki made it 3-1 on a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle at 3:42.
"I mean, he made the saves exactly when they needed it," Devils captain Nico Hischier said. "And even there in the second, when they score right away, and we got a break where he makes the save. It's definitely a big game from him."

Montembeault denied Brendan Smith on a breakaway after he exited the penalty box at 13:35, and later stopped Dawson Mercer on a breakaway at 2:50 of the third period.
"I had a game with two breakaways this year, but three, I'd have to look back," Montembeault said.
Rem Pitlick pushed the lead to 4-1 at 5:13 by scoring at the right post.
Mercer pulled the Devils within 4-2 at 11:58 with a power-play goal on a rebound at the left post to extend his goal streak to four games (five goals).
Matheson scored an empty-net goal at 16:13 for the 5-2 final.
"I think as coaches you're trying to convince them to do things a certain way," St. Louis said, "and when they do it and get rewarded, it's a lot easier to convince them through the success we're having. It's a buy-in and we have that."
NOTES: Montreal defenseman Corey Schueneman had a game-high five blocked shots in 13:20 of ice time. ... Hischier was 16-for-26 on face-offs (62 percent). ... Hughes, who has 71 points (35 goals, 36 assists) in 53 games, became the fastest player to 70 points in a season in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history (John MacLean, 56 games, 1988-89). He has 100 NHL assists and required the fourth-fewest games (219) to reach the mark in franchise history (Scott Gomes, 158; Kirk Muller, 189; Brian Rafalski, 204).