After losing to Toronto in a game where the Devils outplayed them for 65 minutes, but saw their efforts wasted in a shootout, the Devils bounced back against the Canadiens, picking up a 4-1 win.
The Devils surrendered the game's first goal to Max Pacioretty and the Canadiens, but tied it up late in the 1st period before taking a stranglehold on the game in the 2nd period.
Eric Gelinas scored just over a minute in and Adam Henrique scored shortly after, giving the Devils a 3-1 lead they'd hold until late in the 3rd when Dainius Zubrus potted an empty netter.
Martin Brodeur stopped 29-30 in what could be his final start in Montreal.
10 notes:
1. I'll start with Brodeur. He was exceptional against Montreal and if that's his final start in Montreal, he sure made the most of it. He wasn't giving out many rebounds, and when he did he was able to clean them up before they became a problem. I wouldn't be surprised to see him start Thursday.
2. There's been a lot of talk about whether Brodeur will return to the NHL next year and, whether it's in New Jersey or elsewhere, I think he's going to play another year. Ideally it's starting 25 games or so backing up Cory Schneider, but he's a competitive guy and may not want that. I think it's fair to say he's earned the right to do whatever he wants.
3. Since being put on a line with Michael Ryder and Adam Henrique, Ryane Clowe has been arguably the Devils best player. He's been good in his own zone, is making smart decisions with the puck and is putting up a fair amount of points as a result. He has points in five straight and seven points over that span.
4. Going back to this Clowe/Clarkson debate, let's look at the numbers.
For good measure: Ryane Clowe has four points in his last two games. David Clarkson has three points in his last 22.
5. Adam Henrique is turning his season around in a big way. After picking up just 14 points in 38 games, he has now picked up 10 points in his last 10 games and is currently on a three-game point streak. He seems to have found great chemistry with Clowe and Ryder.
6. Mark Fayne is playing some excellent hockey right now, and it's not because he's playing with Andy Greene, though that helps. He's been a rock in his own zone and is notoriously well known among the advanced stats community as one of the more underrated defenseman in the league, in large part due to his ability to exit the zone - something he's surprisingly good at.
Nevertheless, almost every shift he's spending patrolling the blue line in the offensive zone and as a result his shot attempt numbers are excellent. Here's how he has fared over the last two games.
If you're too lazy to do the math, he's over a 70% possession player during the last two games, which is remarkably good.
If the Devils move a defenseman, it shouldn't be Fayne. If it happens to be, they better get a good return for him.
7. The Devils did an excellent job containing PK Subban once again last night. He was a sub-40% possession player despite being above 50% on the year and one of the Canadiens best players in that regard. He's now finished below 40% in two of three games against the Devils this year and under 45% in all three games.
The best way to keep a defenseman from contributing offensively is to keep him in his own zone, something the Devils have done very well. He's an excellent defenseman and is about as dynamic as they come, but he hasn't been able to do a thing against the Devils with the system they play. It'll be interesting to see if that changes in their final meeting of the regular season.
8. Bryce Salvador and Marek Zidlicky were awful last night. Salvador has been OK lately and Zidlicky's been very good for the most part, but my goodness was that an awful showing. I don't know that there was more than a couple shifts that they weren't chasing the puck around their own zone.
9. How much does Max Pacioretty enjoy playing the Devils? It seems like he scores every time New Jersey plays Montreal. He's a helluva player and I agree with the decision to put him on Team USA.
10. Highly doubt I'll get it, but I applied for a job with the Devils to help out in the advanced stats department. I figure it couldn't hurt to apply, right? Worst thing they do is say no. Fingers crossed.