Canadiens come back to steal a point

First period

• A shot that glanced off Jakub Dobes’s pad and into the corner won’t settle all the nerves he brought into his first Saturday night home game.
• It looks like someone turned on a blue filter overlay on for the broadcast, and no one in the truck has noticed yet. It’s not you, it’s Sportsnet.
• The first real chance comes to Kirby Dach on a patient setup by Patrik Laine.
• Montreal looks good to start. Creative play from multiple lines.
• They’ve finally fixed the tint.
• Dobes calmly blockers New Jersey’s second shot of the game into the corner.
• The second line looks extremely dangerous tonight. They may all have a goal when it’s all said and done.
• Brenden Dillon follows up his shot by bowling over Dobes. He’ll send Laine out with space to work to work in the offensive zone because of it.
• “Out of harm’s way luckily,” Garry Galley says of an Arber Xhekaj shot that deflected wide, letting his bias slip through a bit too much.
• Alexandre Carrier makes a save as the puck gets turned over inside the blue line with four Habs heading north.
• New Jersey is beginning to take more of the possession in the second half of the period.
• Jesper Bratt left Jake Evans and Joel Armia in his dust as he moves up from the blue line, creating an odd-man situation in the bottom half of the zone. The Devils capitalize with a goal from Nico Hischier as he has enough time and space to pull the puck from below the goal and put it in.
• Now Bratt beats Dobes five-hole with a relatively harmless harmless backhand from 30 feet out.
• It hasn’t been as bad a period as they played in Detroit, but Montreal still faces the same two-goal deficit.
• Montreal didn’t take advantage of their chances in the opening 10 minutes, New Jersey did in the next 10, and that’s why we have a 2-0 score at the intermission.

Second period

• Josh Anderson drops the puck back to Evans on a rush seconds into the period, but the shot misses the net.
• Bratt hits the post as he tried to record his third point of the game.
• Cole Caufield sends a quick one-time pass to Nick Suzuki at the side of the net, but the captain misses it and looks skyward. Caufield gets the puck back from Juraj Slafkovský on the opposite side moments later and sets up his centre again, and there is a little bit of anger on the second shot as Suzuki fires it to the top corner.

Great work by Slafkovsky to keep this OZ possession alive, gets it to Caufield, and he tees up Nick Suzuki to bring the #Habs within one

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— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 9:23 PM

• Hutson gets a little bit too cute with a pass in front of his net and provides an instant point-blank shot, but Dobes is there. That earns a “Dobes!” chant from some of the fans in attendance.
• Mike Matheson takes a tripping penalty while chasing his man around the boards.
• Carrier tried to take Savard’s puck-incubation record away by holding it on the side boards for several seconds. I think he ended up a little bit shy of Savard’s time.
• Tomas Tatar lunges to make a save on Tomas Tatar, but no Habs players are able to help out as the rebound falls in front of him. Tatar knocks in the rebound to make it 3-1.
• Too much puck-chasing again at the moment.
• The fourth line puts in the best shift of the game so far. It ends as Christian Dvorak plays the puck out of the zone under little pressure after rotating up to the blue line.
• Caufield yells “Behind you!” as Suzuki and Slafkovský break up ice. Suzuki hears him, drops the puck back, and watches as Caufield dangles to the slot, rotates around just enough to get on his forehand, and snipes the 3-2 goal.

#Habs Cole Caufield from slot for goal vs #Devils

Assists: Suzuki, Slafkovsky

#GoHabsGo #NHL #Hockey @RocketSports.bsky.social

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— ChrisHabs360 (@chrishabs360.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 9:55 PM

• Dach and Laine try the exact same play on the next shift, but Allen is wise to the move now.
• The Habs are once again flying around the ice as they did in the opening 10 minutes of the game.
• Caufield comes close to netting his second goal in a matter of minutes by stabbing at a puck sent toward the slot.
• The Canadiens are still trailing, but the crowd gives them a loud cheer for their effort in the last few minutes to get the game tied. If they can carry that into the third, they should find that goal.

Third period

• Caufield drops the puck to Guhle, who bombs a shot off Allen. Looks like the top line is still feeling it.
• Guhle gets another shot on the next forward shift, but misses the net.
• Nearly a third chance for Guhle on the same shift, but he’s a step offside on the zone entry.
• In the end, it’s Guhle’s pairing mate, Alexandre Carrier who ties the game with a blast from the blue line. I didn’t know he could do that. It’s his first goal with the Canadiens.

Alex Carrier with a clapper ties this game up.

Couldn’t have picked a better moment for his first with the #Habs

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— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) January 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM

• The Habs have to play a shift while Hutson has no stick. They manage to survive without anything too dangerous allowed.
• Don;t stop now just because the game is tied, Habs.
• Alright Maple Leafs, you can;t lose to Columbus and Ottawa in the same week.
• The Devils are starting to hold all the possession again. It’s been a game of shifting momentum.
• A slow pass from Hutson gets easily intercepted, but he recognized right away that that would be the case and got back to break the play up.
• The players can’t get the puck, but they are throwing themselves in front of it in the defensive zone.
• Especially Guhle who now has bruises on the bruises on his original bruises.
• Dobes robs Stefan Noesen with a glove save on the doorstep. The crowd is as loud as it’s been all season.
• Montreal keeps trying to clear the puck up the wall, where two Devils are waiting on each side. But they don’t want to play the puck up the middle either. Six more minutes to play.
• Laine takes a shot from the high slot and has to teammates stationed at the posts, bu the rebound ends up in front of Allen when they can’t get to it.
• Montreal has survived the relentless wave and is getting a few chances of their own.
• Dawson Mercer gets a shot on a rush that just grazes the crossbar. Dobes couldn’t quite get his shoulder on it, and didn’t need to in the end.
• One more minute to go for a point.
• Montreal critically gets the puck into New Jersey’s end for the final 30 seconds, and will go to overtime.

Overtime

• Montreal gets the first possession.
• Nick Suzuki makes a great play to break up a pass on a two-on-one.
• Newhook gets a pass for a potential break, but is thwarted by Luke Hughes’s stick-check. The two players crash into the net and knock it over.
• Suzuki just misses a wrist shot from the slot.
• Laine tries to pass the puck to Matheson, but the pass doesn’t connect. The Devils collect the puck, and Jack Hughes scores on a breakaway.
• That ends Dobes’s perfect start, but he’s still 5-0-1.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) Always a highlight

2) Especially when Slafkovský and Suzuki help earn him some space

1) They need to sort things out in the zone in a hurry