NEWARK | Of the places we don't necessarily dream of finding ourselves on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, Newark, with its bums, its boarded-up stores, and its hotel overlooking the Prudential Center parking lot, is at the top of the list.
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Especially when the Canadian and the Devils have a duel that is worse than in the good years of Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens and Steve Brûlé. The game, at least the first half, was so deadly boring that a madman from Mauritius said he felt like he was watching a duel between red and white at a Canadian training camp.
This shows that Mauritians' sense of humor extends beyond the borders of Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières.
To make matters worse, the Habs lost. Again. The fifth defeat in a row, this time by 4 to 3, his longest losing streak of the season.
Getty Images via AFP
It's a shame, because Martin St-Louis' team played a good game. The Montreal team, dominant at even strength, forced the Devils to make several mistakes by entering the opponent's zone while in possession of the puck and allowing the attack to continue thanks to aggressive play.
In exactly this way, Brendan Gallagher, left alone near the face-off circle, and Nick Suzuki, completely abandoned on the right, gave the visitors the lead twice.
“We dominated this game despite being evenly matched. “Strangely enough, we didn’t achieve numerical superiority,” St-Louis noted after the meeting. It’s rare that you can dominate a team without them being punished for it.”
Tighter in defense
But the Canadian was unable to defend his two leads. The Habs once again allowed their rivals to score two goals in the middle period. But in general, the Montrealers handled this phase much better than in their previous encounters.
“There are some aspects that still need to be ironed out, but I think the first two periods were excellent,” analyzed Jake Allen.
The goals from Timo Meier and Ondrej Palat were rather the result of unsuccessful defensive efforts. Joel Armia and/or Alex Newhook in the first, Gallagher in the second.
“We are there defensively. “It was the same case in Pittsburgh where we only missed 12 chances,” said the Canadian coach. You'll never play a perfect game defensively. There are always puck bounces and little mistakes here and there.
This time it was more the third period that was costly. The Habs even provided a gateway to the Devils' massive attack, who have scored just two goals in their last 47 games. A goal from Nico Hischier, who managed to slip the puck under Allen's pads.
Aim at 30 targets
If the defense tightens up, we still hope that some attackers will wake up. Once again it was the first trio that stood out the most.
While we wait for Josh Anderson to score – the poor guy missed two more golden chances – Suzuki doesn't shy away from it. The Habs captain scored his 21st and 22nd goals of the season.
With 24 games left, not only should he have no trouble breaking his personal mark of 26, but he should also be able to reach the 30-goal mark.
This is good news in this difficult season. The other thing is that we were able to leave Newark earlier.