Less than two minutes later, Bratt hit the scoresheet again, this time as the goal scorer. He picked up the puck behind the Montreal net, looped out in front and backhanded it past Dobes from the top of the left circle.
After one period, shots on goal were 12-6 for the Devils.
The Canadiens cut New Jersey’s lead in half almost four minutes into the middle frame. Cole Caufield centered the puck to Nick Suzuki who one-timed a blast in.
Tomas Tatar was rewarded with his hard work as the Devils regained their two-goal edge. Tatar redirected a point shot from Dougie Hamilton then jumped on his own rebound, pushing the puck over the line to make it a 3-1 game.
“Huge goal for us, just a tremendous effort all the way around and for Tatar to get rewarded is great," stated Keefe. "They’re advancing the puck and have scored us some important goals. On a night like tonight, I need to lean on them. I’m very happy and they’ve earned my trust.”
Tatar was happy with the effort of his line overall and on that play.
“Our line got rewarded. We had a sound game and were strong on the puck, doing all the right things.”
Montreal narrowed the gap again late in the second. Suzuki dropped the puck to Caufield and Caufield took a wrist shot from the high slot, firing it past Allen.
The Habs outshot the Devils 16-15 in the second and after 40 minutes, it was 28-21 for the Devils.
Montreal came out strong to start the third period and it resulted in the tying goal 3:34 in. Alexandre Carrier one-timed a blast from the blueline past a screened Allen to tie it up at 3-3.
After the Canadiens goal, the Devils started to tilt the ice back in their favor. The put a lot of pucks towards the goal with Montreal blocking a handful and Dobes having to come up big multiple times.
At the end of regulation, shots on goal were 41-29 for the Devils.
Allen ended up with 29 saves on 32 shots in his return to the last city he played.
“It was important for me to come back here," Allen began. "It was fun to come back but to get the win is the most important part. Guys played minutes they weren’t used to playing but that’s the nature of the league.”
It was a huge win for a goaltender who will carry the bulk of the load for the next four-to-six weeks as the team waits for Jacob Markstrom to get healthy.
“Taking a phrase out of (Canadiens coach) Marty St. Louis’ book, the League doesn’t care," said Allen. "It’s next man up. Marky’s been our best player all year and he’s probably going to be when he comes back. We’re just trying to hold the fort until he’s back.”
Jack said the team wanted to get these two points for the veteran goaltender.
“We wanted to have a good showing here for him. He’s been playing really good as of late and I don’t think we’ve been getting the results for him. It was in Montreal, too, really happy for him and that’s a good win for the group.”