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Joshua Roy scores his first NHL objective, Juraj Slafkovsky will get his sixth of the season and Cole Caufield nets the game-winner for Habs.
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Historical past was made on the 2022 NHL Draft when the Canadiens chosen Juraj Slafkovsky with the No. 1 total decide after which the New Jersey Devils took Simon Nemec with the second decide.
It marked the primary time gamers from Slovakia have been drafted with the primary two picks.
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Wednesday night time, Slafkovsky and Nemec — who’re shut mates — performed in opposition to one another for the primary time within the NHL. The Canadiens received 3-2 in New Jersey with Slafkovsky scoring a objective for the second straight sport. It was his sixth objective of the season and 5 of them have come on the street. Slafkovsky now has 4-6-10 totals within the final 15 video games.
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Joshua Roy scored his first NHL objective for the Canadiens and Cole Caufield received his sixth game-winner of the season. It marked the third straight sport Caufield has scored and he now has a team-leading 14 targets, two greater than Nick Suzuki. The Canadiens improved their file to 19-18-7 and they’re 10-7-4 on the street.
Luke Hughes and Alexander Holtz scored for the Devils as their file fell to 22-17-3.
Goalie Samuel Montembeault made 28 saves for the win because the Devils outshot the Canadiens 30-25. Montembeault improved his file to 10-6-4 with a 2.85 goals-against common and a .910 save proportion.
Whereas Canadiens GM Kent Hughes mentioned at his midseason information convention Monday that he wasn’t prepared but to anoint Montembeault because the No. 1 goalie, the very fact the 27-year-old has began six of the final 9 video games speaks volumes. It seems now like Jake Allen and Cayden Primeau will break up the backup begins for so long as this three-goalie system continues earlier than Hughes could make a commerce.
If Montembeault retains enjoying the way in which he did in opposition to the Devils, the three-year, US$9.45-million contract extension Hughes signed him to on Dec. 1 will seem like an ideal discount. The mixed worth of that contract is lower than the US$10.5 million injured Canadiens goalie Carey Value averages every season on his eight-year, US$84-million contract that also has two extra seasons remaining with him on long-term injured reserve.
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Highway to the Cup
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Montembeault shut the Devils out via the primary two durations, stopping all 22 pictures he confronted, whereas the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead. Slafkovsky scored at 12:48 of the primary interval on a ravishing setup from Caufield, who batted a cross out of mid-air from behind the web to Slafkovsky in entrance.
“It’s a reasonably nasty play,” Slafkovsky informed reporters in New Jersey after the sport about Caufield’s cross. “He’s a particular participant and he could make performs like these. I’m simply pleased that I used to be in the fitting time and the fitting spot. I don’t even know the way it went in, so don’t ask me about it.
“(The puck) was sort of bouncing and I simply sort of whacked it and noticed it at the back of the web,” Slafkovsky added.
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Roy scored at 14:45 of the second interval, finishing a ravishing two-on-one with Sean Monahan.
With 45 seconds left within the second interval, Suzuki was given a four-minute penalty after by chance high-sticking Kevin Bahl within the face and drawing blood. After the intermission, the Devils took benefit of a recent sheet of ice, getting power-play targets from Hughes and Holtz within the first 1:38 of the third interval. It marked the third straight sport the Canadiens have allowed a power-play objective and so they rank twenty ninth within the NHL in penalty-killing with a 72.7 per cent success charge.
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Montembeault shut the door after the 2 power-play targets and Caufield scored the game-winner with 4:31 left on the clock, banging within the rebound off a shot by Jordan Harris. The Canadiens at the moment are 11-0 this season when main after two durations.
This was the twentieth straight sport Slafkovsky has performed on the No. 1 line with Suzuki and Caufield and coach Martin St. Louis’s resolution to place them collectively and depart them there may be actually beginning to repay because the Canadiens’ rebuilding course of continues. Caufield has six targets within the final 10 video games, whereas Suzuki has 4-11-15 totals within the final 16 video games.
At age 23, Caufield was the oldest of the three goal-scorers in opposition to the Devils. Slafkovsky and Roy — who was enjoying in his third NHL sport after getting known as up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket — are each 20. It could be fascinating to see what the Canadiens would seem like now if that they had injured forwards Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook — who’re each 22 — within the lineup.
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Slafkovsky and Nemec had an opportunity to have dinner collectively Tuesday night time. Nemec performed final season with the AHL’s Utica Comets and he additionally began this season there earlier than making his NHL debut on Dec. 1. The 19-year-old defenceman logged 21:53 of ice time in opposition to the Canadiens and had a minus-3 differential whereas choosing up an help
“He’s an ideal participant offensively,” Slafkovsky informed reporters in New Jersey Wednesday morning. “He can create lots and he’s actually sensible, too. I’m positive his sport will solely develop as a result of he has solely like 20 video games within the NHL, I believe. He’ll solely get higher. I can’t wait to see him progress and it’s good that you’ve somebody you grew up with and may push one another to be higher.”
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Slafkovsky headed into Wednesday night time’s sport with 82 video games of NHL expertise beneath his belt — the equal of 1 full season. He now has 10-17-27 totals in 83 video games.
“It goes by quick,” Slafkovsky informed reporters Wednesday morning. “I really feel so significantly better, truthfully. It’s solely (82) video games, however I can see the progress and I’m positive I’ll solely develop and the following 82 will probably be even higher.”
Sport No. 83 was positively a memorable one for Slafkovsky.
scowan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/StuCowan1
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