The New Jersey Devils had just defeated their archrival Philadelphia Flyers, 7-3, supported by a season-high five power play goals.  That lasted two more periods though as Montreal quickly and painfully ripped apart the Devils' weak defensive corps.  The Canadiens entered last night as clear underdogs, having last won in New Jersey on Feb. 5, 2002, nearly six years ago.  The Canadiens were 1-7-2 before their come-from-behind 4-3 win over NJ, behind a three-goal third period.

On a night when only 14,257 were in attendance, the Devils offered a rather unnoteworthy performance.  Although they managed to score two goals, both came on the man advantage.  In fact, New Jersey tallied twice on four second period shots.

Aren't the Devils supposed to be holding teams to four shots per period and not vice versa?  I'm confused.

In the first period, Patrik Elias took advantage of a Sergei Kostitsyn tripping penalty.  He carried the puck into the left slot and lifted a perfect wrister over Canadiens’ goalie Christobal Huet, who had one career win and six losses before the Habs’ stunning upset.  Mike Mottau assisted on Elias’ 13tha, at 12:18.  The Devils led 6-3 in shots after the opening frame.

Elias continued his recent onslaught in the middle stanza.  At 16:36, Mottau and Elias played give and go with Elias being the final recipient of a perfect cross-ice feed.  Huet had no chance as Elias tallied goal No. 14 this season.  With the two marks, Elias’ month of January has surpassed the three preceding months in terms of goals, points and power play goals.  He has also committed merely on minor infraction this month.

The Canadiens were down 2-0 but stormed back to shrink the Devils’ lead in half.  Well-travelled Bryan Smolinski surprised Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur five hole on a beautiful pass from Andrei Kostitsyn.  Alexei Kovalev received the second helper on Smolinksi 4th at 14:12.

However, Montreal committed its third and fourth penalties 31 seconds apart, giving New Jersey an opportunity to regain the two-goal lead.  Seven seconds after Steve Begin went to the penalty box for a questionable crosschecking, the captain, Jamie Langenbrunner cashed in with his 8th of the season.  While Brian Gionta earned the secondary assist at 17:02, defenseman Paul Martin added the other feed, before Langenbrunner blasted an accurately placed slapshot by Huet.

Merely 11 seconds after Langenbrunner converted his 8th by Paul Martin and Brian Gionta, Montreal received another penalty for abusing the officials.

On the ensuing (second) two-man advantage, the Devils registered one shot and three “give aways.”

Since the Devils were in front by a 3-1 margin, it looked like they were on their way to another win over Montreal.

Not so fast.

Smolinski again trimmed the lead to 3-2 with Rod Pelley and Michael Rupp on the ice.

In the third period of an important Eastern Conference battle, head coach Brent Sutter inserted his fourth liners.

Interesting philosophy of which I do not subscribe.

Continuing their attack, Saku Koivu deflected a puck by Brodeur, who will not attend the NHL All-Star Game this weekend.  The referees upheld Koivu’s high sticking goal.  In my opinion, it’s a borderline call that the officials made, but one the Devils would have liked back of course.

Koivu’s ninth was fed to him by Mike Komaserik.

The Canadiens were not done yet, as the Devils continued to plague themselves with an unsportsmanlike five straight third penalty penalties, from hooking twice to goal interference and tripping twice.

With four seconds remaining on Clarkson’ hooking infraction, Christopher Higgins cashed in his 16^th, giving Montreal a 4-3 lead.  Roman Hamrlik and Koivu assisted on Higgins agoal at 14:31.

Nobody could have seen this coming, especially Sutter who forced his players to their third mandatory post game bike ride this season.

“Sutter was so upset that he ordered a 30-minute team stationary bicycle workout after the game before the players could head their separate ways for the break,” Tom Gulitti noted on his blog.

The Devils did not make a valiant effort down the stretch, committing two more minors and taking zero shots on net.

They finished with a season low 13 shots on Huet, while the Habs blasted 32 on Brodeur, 20 in the last period.  The team record for futility is 11

After the All Star break, the Devils, who are still tied atop the Atlantic Division with the Flyers, host Pittsburgh on Tuesday at 7 o'clock, who was recently devastated by Sidney Crosby’s high ankle sprain, which will keep him off the ice for 6-8 weeks.

Notes:

The Devils are 7-13 on the man advantage dating back to Philly.  They were 0-15 the previous four games.

The Devils were 17-0 when leading after two periods, before a recent stretch in which they blew a 1-0 third period lead to Florida and more recently, a 3-1 lead to Montreal.

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