Apr 5, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson (8) defends against New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes (43) during the second period at Bell Centre. | Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
First period
The crowd chants “Cau-field!” as Cole steps on the ice for his first shift. When this crowd last saw him, he had 44 goals.
The Devils are checking the Canadiens’ sticks very tightly to start this game, not allowing anyone space to shoot the puck. It’s needed strategy with Jacob Markstrom in net. Montreal will need to work a little harder to test the netminder tonight.
Kaiden Guhle gets his stick in Jack Hughes’s feet as the forward loses the puck on his zone entry, and now the Devils will enjoy some extra space on a power play.
Montreal is leaving no passing lanes open through the middle, so the best the Devils can do is boost their shot total with shots into Fowler’s mid-section. Some of these teams in the Metro must have Corsi bonuses.
Joe Veleno gets the most dangerous chance by stripping the puck and going in alone on Markstrom.
Just as Guhle’s penalty expires, Jack Hughes drives around Montreal’s coverage and sends a low shot through Fowler’s five-hole. It goes off the post, but Timo Meier is at the top of the crease to pound the puck in.
The next shot goes off Fowler’s crossbar. Suddenly he’s not tracking the puck like he was to begin the game.
Mike Matheson is trying to go right at Jack Hughes in this game, but isn’t sticking with him after his initial hits and letting him continue to make plays in the offensive zone. Hughes is the best player on the ice in this first period.
Phillip Danault gets set up by Lane Hutson for one of the first open shots of the period for Montreal, and sends the puck off the crossbar.
One last chance misses the target, and the Habs will need a comeback in the final 40 minutes to extend their winning streak.
First intermission
The Carolina Hurricanes lose to the Ottawa Senators and stay at 104 points. A win tonight would move Montreal two points back of the current conference leader.
Second period
About five minutes into the period, and the ice quality is halting as many attempted transitions as the Devils’ defending. The Canadiens played on a better surface when travelling through the Southern United States.
Mike Matheson gets grabbed in the neutral zone, and Montreal heads to the power play.
Another short-handed two-on-one. The Devils are attacking the puck when it gets high in the zone on the PK.
Zero shots on the power play as they just pass the puck around the perimeter. Hutson ends the sequence with a high-sticking call in his own zone to make the situation even worse.
Montreal gets a short-handed two-on-one with Matheson and Danault. Matheson’s shot is just fought off by Markstrom.
New Jersey is just working harder than Montreal in this game to keep the puck moving toward the attacking end.
Cody Glass skates right around Matheson and sends the puck through Fowler’s five-hole once again to put his team out to a 2-0 lead with less than two minutes to play in the second.
With 40 minutes played, Montreal has eight shots on net. A crowd that watched the team rattle off wins on the road and gave everyone a loud cheer at the beginning of the game is starting to boo the effort. Two high-danger chances after two periods.
Third period
The fans have had a change of heart during the intermission and try to boost their team to begin the third.
Zachary Bolduc lands a big hit on Luke Hughes that gets the crowd going a little more, and Hughes jumps into the glass on the contact to make it look even harder than it was. Hughes retaliates after Bolduc clears the puck out of the zone with a cross-check to his kidneys that breaks his stick. A melee ensues involving all 10 players. That might be the spark Montreal needed.
Montreal gets a power play. Time for, at the very least, some shots.
Okay, shot attempts. The fire some pucks, but miss the net.
Another short-handed two-on-one will bring the latest power play to a close. It looks like the winning streak is ending tonight.
Caufield tosses a puck on net from the blue line. Montreal has its first shot of the period.
The second line is able to create about three chances to raise faith in a comeback a little bit. Markstrom plays a potential icing play poorly and has the puck go off the post and stick at the side of the crease. Josh Anderson is tripped by Dougie Hamilton as he races in to collect it, and Montreal goes back on the power play.
Suzuki gets a shot five seconds in. Caufield stabs at the puck for another. The second unit gets none. Another power play goes by the wayside.
The Devils are getting a little sloppy in their coverage now. Maybe they’re running out of steam at the end of this back-to-back.
Caufield shoots so hard his feet fly out from under him on two one-time attempts. He just misses the net both times, and Markstrom should be thankful because the puck would have punched a 14-hole right through him.
Anderson and Arber Xhekaj combine to catch Jack Hughes with a big, clean hit just outside Montreal’s blue line. Brenden Dillon comes over to defend his franchise player. Anderson accepts the fight, which earns his team a power play on an instigator call.
They haven’t learned the lesson about passing the puck near the blue line.
Zero shots once again, spoiling the momentum they’d been building at five-on-five.
Fowler is pulled with over three-and-a-half minutes to play. Montreal will finish this game down three goals.
Caufield flubs another one-time attempt. He’s really pressing now.
The winning streak ends at eight, and the crowd will head home without the chance to celebrate their team.
Montreal is back in action on Tuesday, hosting the Florida Panthers in the season-series finale.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He’s going to have to earn it, it seems
2) You can’t win them all
1) I’m sure we’ll see better versus the Panthers
