By Canadian Press

Jack Hughes’ three-point night leads Devils over Canadiens 4-2 in pre-season

Sep 25, 2023 | 6:57 PM

MONTREAL — Star centre Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in NHL pre-season action Monday night.

Joe Gambardella, Simon Nemec and Dawson Mercer also found the scoresheet for New Jersey (2-0-0). The Devils, who were also hosting the Philadelphia Flyers at home Monday, iced a split-squad team.

Joshua Roy and Josh Anderson replied for Montreal (0-1-0), which was playing without most of its regulars. The Canadiens dressed their last four first-round picks — David Reinbacher, Juraj Slafkovsky, Logan Mailloux and Kaiden Guhle.

New Jersey netminder Akira Schmid played the first two periods before Keith Kinkaid took the crease in the third. Kinkaid, however, left shortly after contact with Roy and Schmid returned to the net. Schmid made 16 saves and Kinkaid stopped all seven shots he faced.

Montreal starting goalie Samuel Montembeault turned away 16 of 18 shots, while Jakub Dobes made 11 saves playing the second half of the game.

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The Devils were 3-4 on the power play. The Canadiens went 1-2.

Up 3-2 in the third period, Hughes doubled New Jersey’s lead with a shot from the low right circle that beat Dobes at 14:50.

The Canadiens had multiple opportunities to cut the deficit, including a miss by Newhook with a wide-open net midway through the frame and a shot on the doorstep by Guhle with the goalie pulled, but the Devils hung on.

Roy opened the scoring for Montreal with a power-play goal at 15:59 of the first period by beating Schmid five-hole after forward Xavier Simoneau found him alone in front of the net with a cross-ice pass.

Gambardella replied for New Jersey with a shot that beat a sprawling Montembeault after a net-front scramble to tie it 1-1 at 10:05 in the first.

Despite the goal, Montembeault bailed out his team multiple times in the first, including a couple point-blank saves on Hughes as New Jersey outshot Montreal 13-7 through 20 minutes.

Nemec gave New Jersey the lead three-and-a-half minutes into the second with a bizarre goal after his shot from centre ice ricocheted off the endboards and trickled between Montembeault’s pad and the post.

Mercer added to the lead at 7:18 after Hughes danced through the Canadiens defence and set him up with a wide-open cage at the side of the net.

Anderson cut New Jersey’s lead to 3-2 under two minutes later by finishing off a passing play from off-season acquisition Alex Newhook and top prospect Reinbacher.

Reinbacher, the fifth-overall pick in this year’s draft, was making his pre-season debut for the Canadiens at Bell Centre. The 18-year-old Austrian had one shot and one hit in 15:26 ice time to go with his assist.

“You can’t describe this feeling,” Reinbacher, who’s expected to play in Europe this season, told reporters before the game. “You work all your life for it and then you can stand on the ice with NHL guys and compete against those guys. Of course, it’s just an exhibition game, but it feels unreal.”

SLAFKOVSKY ON TOP LINE

With stars Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield sitting out, last year’s No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky got an opportunity to play on Montreal’s first line alongside Newhook and Anderson.

The 19-year-old forward from Slovakia, who had four goals and six assists in 39 games with the Canadiens last season before a season-ending knee injury, had three hits on the evening.

NEXT UP

Montreal hosts the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.

New Jersey plays on the road in New York on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press