NEWARK, NJ - The Devils rallied to overcome a 3-0 deficit halfway through the game against Montreal to force overtime, but fell to the Canadiens, 4-3 in a shootout, at Prudential Center Saturday night.

It took five rounds of a shootout before Oliver Kapanen finished it off.

“We wanted two (points), we got one but it was a good comeback,” defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. “The atmosphere tonight was unbelievable. Very cool game tonight just to play and probably to watch as well. It was two teams going at each other. In the end they got the win in the shootout.”

Montreal built a 3-0 advantage on goals from Jayden Struble, Ivan Demidov (PP) and Lane Hutson.

The Devils answered with tallies from Dawson Mercer, Jack Hughes (SH) and Timo Meier, who tied the game with 2:15 left in regulation to force the extra session.

"Even if they scored we just kept working," forward Jesper Bratt said. "We knew we were going to somehow get a goal if we kept working, kept the momentum up, and that's what happened."

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night in Montreal to complete the back-to-back home-and-home showdown. 

"Tomorrow is Bell Centre. A good atmosphere again," Siegenthaler said. "It's kind of like a mini series. We want to go there tomorrow and do our best."

Here are some observations from the game:

• The Devils had to kill a penalty to Jack Hughes (delay of game) in the final two minutes of regulation just to force the extra period. The unit got the job done and helped the Devils eventually steal a point. 

Keefe: "The guys dug in for Jack in the end. Jack's been so exceptional for us. Unlucky play, puck goes over the glass. Again, against a high-powered offense and great power play, you have to dig in and the guys did to get us the point, get us to overtime and give us a chance."

• Dawson Mercer has the hot hand right now. Mercer, who has three goals in his past two games, scored on a beautiful shot from below the circle and along the goal line. He had the puck on the right side with Habs goalie Jakub Dobes down in the Reverse VH. Mercer found the small hole over Dobes’ left shoulder and sneaked it in near side with a wicked snapper.

Keefe: "The Mercer goal was huge. A great play by Timo to send him in there. Great goal. That gave us some life. We came off the mat a little bit."

• The Devils had perhaps their best PK of the season late in the second period. Brenden Dillon was sitting in the box for a four-minute double minor high sticking. Not only did the Devils kill off both penalties without surrendering a goal, Hughes scored a shorthanded tally and New Jersey had several other amazing looks. The Devils generated more offense in that four minutes than arguably the rest of the game – and I’m only being slightly hyperbolic.

Keefe: "That's a very good power play, lots of weapons, fourth in the League coming into today. They scored on us early in the second period so when you have to kill four (minutes), you're feeling it. You're down 3-1 and this could be them pulling away on us. The guys dug in hard."

• On that shorty by Hughes, it actually came on the latter of two 2-on-1 opportunities with Jesper Bratt. On the first, Bratt fed the puck across, but Hughes’ shot was stopped by Dobes. Seconds later, they duo got a second 2-on-1 (thanks to a great stretch pass from Jonas Siegenthaler). This time, Hughes fed a pass across to Bratt, but the puck was behind him and in his skates. So Bratt couldn’t shoot. He got control and immediately fed the puck back to Hughes, who had a wide-open net at that point and buried it.

Keefe: "The penalty kill that turns into a goal for us, shorthanded, that's the real swing in the game. That really gives the guys life and momentum."

• The (other) hot hand on the Devils also remains hot. Jack Hughes picked up another goal (shorthanded) to total 33 points (13g-20a) in 19 games since the Olympic break.

• Devils captain Nico Hischier won 22 of 31 faceoffs in the game for a 71-percent success rate. 

• Devils forward Marc McLaughlin made his season debut in the game against Montreal. After suffering an injury in the preseason, McLaughlin underwent a five-month rehab before getting sent to the Utica of the AHL in February. He was recalled this morning and played his first NHL game since April 16, 2025 – nearly a calendar year.