Jack Hughes scored on a breakaway at 4:06 of overtime to fuel the visiting New Jersey Devils to a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Patrik Laine’s pass caromed off the stick of defenseman Mike Matheson in Montreal’s offensive end, allowing Hughes to skate down the ice in on a breakaway and slip the puck past Jakub Dobes.
Jesper Bratt collected a goal and an assist while Tatar and captain Nico Hischier also tallied for the Devils, who extended their road win streak against the Canadiens to nine games. That ties the franchise mark for New Jersey’s longest road winning against a single opponent, matching a nine-game run versus the Florida Panthers from Oct. 25, 2000, to Nov. 23, 2005.
The offense proved just enough for Jake Allen, who made 29 saves in his return to Montreal for the first time since he was dealt at last season’s trade deadline.
Captain Nick Suzuki recorded a goal and two assists, Cole Caufield had one of each, and defenseman Alexandre Carrier tallied for the first time since joining Montreal in December. Juraj Slafkovsky notched two assists and Dobes turned aside 40 shots to fall to 5-0-1 for the Canadiens, who have lost two in a row after winning 13 of their previous 17 games.
Bratt skated through the slot before alertly sending a backhanded feed to Hischier, who converted at the left doorstep to open the scoring with 4:08 remaining in the first period. Hischier’s goal was his team-leading 24th of the season and second in as many games.
Bratt doubled the advantage less than two minutes later after his shovel shot from high in the left circle beat a screened Dobes.
Suzuki converted from the high slot to halve the deficit at 3:50 of the second period; however, Tatar cleaned up his own rebound more than nine minutes later to give New Jersey a 3-1 lead.
Caufield skated across the slot and wired a shot that handcuffed Allen with 2:55 remaining in the second period before Carrier’s blast from the point forged a 3-3 tie at 3:34 of the third.
–Field Level Media
