Devils Almost Pull Off Comeback, But Allen Allows Three Shootout Goals in 4-3 Loss to Canadiens
The Devils had a chance to make the standings look more interesting than they should, but Allen did not hold up his end of the bargain in the shootout.
NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 04: Jayden Struble #47 of the Montréal Canadiens celebrates his goal during the first period of the game against the New Jersey Devils on April 4, 2026 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images First Period The New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens traded chances over the first five or so minutes, but both Jake Allen and Jakub Dobes made some good stops. Cole Caufield almost had the Devils beat twice, but he lost the puck after Kovacevic took a swipe at him on the first shift of the game, and Kovacevic cleared a glove rebound later on from a Caufield shot.
The best Devils chance came just past the five-minute mark when Jesper Bratt was dicing the Canadiens defense up, backhanding a shot that just missed the mark. Paul Cotter drew an interference call from Ivan Demidov with under seven minutes to play in the period, giving the Devils their first power play of the game. Luke Hughes quarterbacked, sending the puck wide to Jack early.
They set up a shot for a deflection from Bratt, but it didn’t get to the net. After that one attempt, the first unit of the power play struggled to keep possession for over a minute (aside from a one-and-done Jack Hughes backhand by the net), but they had a good chance in the second minute when Connor Brown had a one-timer in the slot that was frozen by Dobes. On Montreal’s sixth shot of the game, Jayden Struble took advantage of bad netfront defense by Brenden Dillon, who took his man through a moving screen right through Jake Allen’s crease.
Struble’s shot went under the crossbar and came right back out, giving the Canadiens a 1-0 on the perfect screen by Dillon. Late in the period, Nick Bjugstad slashed the shaft of Ivan Demidov’s stick and was sent to the penalty box with eight seconds to play, preventing Dougie Hamilton from getting one last good chance on Dobes. The Canadiens took 1:52 of power play time into the second period.
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