Here are 10 takeaways from the away game:
1. With half the roster in New Jersey and another in Montreal the Devils lineup against the Canadiens looked as follows:
Johansson-Zacha-Palmieri
Studenic-Zajac-Stafford
Coleman-Seney-Anderson
Baddock-Gignac-Speers
Mueller-Severson
Butcher-Lovejoy
Strait-Jacobs
Lack/Blackwood
2. Blake Speers opened the scoring for the Devils midway through the first period, when he took advantage of a Canadiens miscue. Canadiens defenseman Simon Despres coughed up the puck at the blueline while the Devils were on the penalty kill. The puck landed on Speers' stick, who then turned on the jets to go one-on-one with Canadiens goaltender Antti Niemi. Speers released a snapshot that beat the Canadiens netminder glove side to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at 6:42.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Full cage? No problem for @Bspeers18. #NJDvsMTL pic.twitter.com/gjY56ZsiR4
3. Devils forward prospect Joey Anderson was excited to show the New Jersey coaching staff that he has soaked in their messages and systems during training camp. Anderson lined up with veteran Blake Coleman and fellow rookie Brett Seney. Anderson showed he can be a serviceable player, comporting himself well in all aspects of the game. He played 16:03 total, including 2:59 on the power play and 2:05 on the penalty kill.
4. Eddie Lack received the start in goal on Monday night in Montreal. Lack played the first two periods against the Canadiens where he stopped all 13 shots that he faced. He was then replaced, by design, by Mackenzie Blackwood.
5. As for Blackwood he had a tougher night at the rink, giving up three goals on 12 shots. All three goals came in the span of 1:32.
6. All players are trying to leave their impression on the coaching staff, and forward Brandon Baddock is no exception. On Monday night he dropped the gloves and held his own against Canadiens forward Nicolas Deslauriers. Baddock finished the night.
7. After the first period of play, the Devils lead in several aspects of the game. Not only were they leading on the scoreboard 1-0, they had the shot advantage 8-5 with Travis Zajac registering two of those goals. They also lead at the faceoff dot, winning 53% of the faceoffs.
8. New Jersey head coach John Hynes stayed behind at Prudential Center where he watched the game from a bird eye view. That left devils assistant coach Alain Nasreddine in charge of the bench in Montreal. He was assisted by Mike Grier and Binghamton Devils head coach Mark Dennehy.
9. The Devils penalty kill got the job done on multiple occasions going 3-for-3, and produced the Devils lone goal of the night shorthanded.
10. It's on to the next preseason game which will take place on Thursday night when the Devils visit the New York Islanders in Brooklyn.
