The top line took the night off, and the Devils took advantage.
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Let’s look on the bright side.
Yes it was another loss for the Canadiens, their fifth in a row and their ninth in their last 11 games. But Montreal put in a stronger effort than usual, actually coming back in the third to make the New Jersey Devils nervous. Alas it wasn’t enough and in the end, the better team won, even though it was hardly the Devils’ best game. At the final buzzer, it was 5-3 for the hometown team.
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To pull out a well-worn phrase, there were too many passengers on the Habs squad, and that begins with the first line, which took the night off. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach were all complete non-factors and for a team like the Canadiens, which is often described as a one-line team, when those three are sleeping through the game, chances are the CH ain’t going to be winning anything.
Then of course there was the team’s defensive play. It was a mess but that’s hardly a news item at this point.
But there was head coach Martin St. Louis once again saying after the game that he’s not in the least worried.
“Go re-watch the game,” said St. Louis. “I feel good about the game… We didn’t get bounces here and there. The engagement and the work are right where I want them to be.”
He is saying this about a team that’s lost five in a row and after a game where the top line was invisible.
Well the engagement and work came from the supporting players once again Thursday, with Alex Newhook scoring two goals, doubling his season total, and Brendan Gallagher had another stellar game, scoring his fourth goal in his last six games. He is second in scoring on the team, behind Caufield, who has 10. Gally has six.
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Newhook’s second goal of the night, midway through the third, was an absolute beauty, one of the nicest Montreal goals of the season. He took it coast to coast and chipped it past the New Jersey netminder. With that marker, he made it 4-3, setting up an exciting finish for the game.
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Newhook also scored in the second, on a nice drop pass from Jake Evans, to bring the score to 2-1.
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The Gallagher goal was a Brendan Gallagher special, with Josh Anderson firing a one-timer on Jacob Markstrom and the rebound coming right to Gally, who banged it in. Not pretty, perhaps, but effective.
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The Canadiens did keep coming back into this game, but there’s just so much more talent on the New Jersey team, starting with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. Hughes had a goal and two assists and Bratt ended the evening with two goals and an assist.
On the first goal of the night, Hughes just waltzed down the middle with Newhook looking on in awe and then at the last second, whipped a quick pass off to Bratt at the side of the net and all of a sudden it was 1-0.
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On the second New Jersey goal, Hughes sent a perfect pass from behind the Habs’ net to Ondreg Palat and he roofed it to make it 2-0.
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The third goal for the Devils came courtesy of a major defensive breakdown from the Canadiens, with Lane Hutson, Josh Anderson and David Savard all in the corner to the left of Monty fighting for the puck, which left Jonas Siegenthaler all alone in front of the net. Naturally the puck came right to him and before you could ‘Hey guys, don’t all stay in the corner’, it was 3-1 Jersey.
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Hughes’s goal was also an eye-catcher. Bratt brought the puck in on a two-on-one, flipped it over to Hughes and Samuel Montembeault didn’t have a chance.
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Thus goes a frustrating week so far for St. Louis’s outfit. Both this game and the game Tuesday against Calgary were stronger efforts but neither was good enough to deliver a win.
“There’s a lot of stuff I see that I like,” said St. Louis in his post-game remarks, and there was. But he wasn’t quite as vocal about the stuff that many others didn’t like. This is a team that appears to be regressing compared to last season and you have to think that privately St. Louis and his bosses — Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes — have to be starting to worry about the lack of spark from key players like Suzuki, Dach, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Mike Matheson.
Here are what some of the liveblog faithful were saying during the game.
Quite a bit happier with the level of compete Habs are starting to show. More work to do in the defensive zone but vastly improved from earlier this year. They are very close to turning these losses into wins. — Doug Kirkby
Saw a post saying that Newhook came to play. File that under: it’s about bloody time. — Marc Taillefer
The Canadiens played a lot better than their past few games, but too much Bratt and Hughes for the Devils. — Ryan Katz
Nothing to be ashamed tonight. Montreal played very well. Devils better at every position. — Arthur Chilli
bkelly@postmedia.com
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