New Jerseys Devils take a huge win against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 24, 2023, at the Bell Centre, 5-2. Now, the Devils are 3-1-1 and second place in the Metropolitan division after the New York Rangers.
They started the night slow compared to last week's game vs the Islanders, but the Devils quickly fixed their style. The players started sluggishly and found themselves behind 0-1 off of Montreal's Justin Barron, but the Devils quickly took back control. Players quickly adjusted their game and tied the scoreboard from a goal by Alexander Holtz, assisted by Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton, after the first strong power player made the score 1-1.
Start of the 2nd period, the game became another Hughes show. The middle Hughes Brother took the puck off the boards and sent a pass to Tyler Toffoli to put the Devils up 2-1. The Devils offense has continued to improve over the first five games, and they outshot the Habs 14 - 7.
In the third period, the Devils took full control of the game, and it took just 34 seconds into the period for them to score on the power play. Making up for the goal that was rejected by the refs earlier in the game, Captain Nico Hischier buried his shot off a pass from Hughes. It was the first goal of the season for the Selke trophy runner-up. The Devils would repeat that Power Play success but with Toffoli scoring his second goal off another amazing feed by Jack Hughes. This would be repeated in the final minutes of the game as Hughes fed Toffoli to score his third game to the empty net.
The defense is still adjusting to the loss of Ryan Graves and Damon Severson. If they want to compete in a highly competitive Eastern Conference, the Devils are going to need to make adjustments in their own zone. The Penalty Kill, which was a strong part of their game last season, looks off this fall. The penalty was caught watching as different players on the other team cut through the blue line and two of our defenders to score on a breakaway. It was sloppy play by the penalty kill unit and can cost the team if the pattern continues.
This was another game in which the Devil's power play was dominant. Even when the Devils didn't score, they managed to put constant pressure on the opposition by keeping the puck in the Canadiens zone for almost the full two minutes of the powerplay.
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