CANADIENS
Montreal

DEVILS
New Jersey

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Plekanec – Smith-Pelly
Eller – Galchenyuk – Andrighetto
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Byron – Flynn – Holloway[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Subban
Pateryn – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Tokarski

Scratches:
Injured reserve:  Brendan Gallagher, Torrey Mitchell (lower-body), Carey Price, Alex Semin
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Game Report

There is something about the Canadiens playing in New Jersey. Add to the mix that it was a Friday night game and you have the makings of a very dull game. One fan called it a tryptophan coma.

The sluggish Canadiens managed just five shots in the opening period, their lowest output of the season. The high-flying Habs who skated circles around the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night were no where to be found. By the midpoint of the game, the Devils enjoyed a 2-0 lead.

Once again, it was Lars Eller who cued the turnaround. Eller carried the puck into the Devils zone sliding a perfect no-look pass to Sven Andrighetto who fired a knuckleball that fooled goaltender Cory Schneider. It’s always been a false narrative that the Dane has no hockey sense, it’s just sounding more foolish this season.

The Eller, Andrighetto, Alex Galchenyuk trio was the best line for the Canadiens on this night and have been for the past three games.

In the third period with Devante Smith-Pelly unable to repeat his MSG performance, Galchenyuk was loaned to the top line playing on the right side of Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty. The captain fed Galchenyuk who skated the length of the ice of a highlight reel tying goal.

Galchenyuk and Andrighetto would each score again in the shootout leading the Canadiens to a comeback road win.

The two teams play again on Saturday with the Devils visiting the Bell Centre.

▲     Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller, Sven Andrighetto, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov

▼     Paul Byron, Devante Smith-Pelly, Greg Pateryn, P.K. Subban, Bud Holloway, David Desharnais

1. Alex Galchenyuk   MTL
2. Cory Schneider   NJD
3. Lee Stempniak  NJD

• “This is a confident group. They are capable of making a comeback.“
• “We put [Alex Galchenyuk] on the right side [on the goal] but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be a right wing. We still think he is a good center.”

Sven Andrighetto

• “I had an idea of what I was going to do [in the shootout], but I was also reading off the goalie as well. I saw he gave me the side so I took the shot.”

Alex Galchenyuk

• “The last couple of games I’ve paid more attention to my offensive game and have tried to go out there and just play my game, relax and have fun. I’ve tried to make plays and it definitely has helped.”

P.K. Subban

• “We need better starts, but good teams find ways to win. Obviously there are some things we want to clean up; we need to be more consistent. But compared to last year, we’ve been a lot more consistent in terms of how we’re playing night in and night out, so we want that to continue.”

Devils coach John Hynes

• “I thought our team stuck with it and competed real hard and we found a way to get a point. We would have liked to have two points, but we’ve got to find a way to be better [Saturday] and see if we can find a way to get two points.“

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com