Devils Stumble Late, Fall to Canadiens

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The Canadiens are so hot that there young players who are called up from the minors are even producing.

With the Devils attempting to clear the zone, Jarred Tinordi set up Tomas Plekanec with the redirect goal giving the Canadiens the 2-1 lead late in the game.

"We make that play 20 times a game, and sometimes the puck doesn't want to go your way," said Hedberg, who finished with 20 saves. "It came back to them and boom boom, it's in the net. It was one of those games that comes down to a goal like that, and we were weren't fortunate enough to get it."

Colby Armstrong ended his 39 game goal drought by scoring in the first period giving the Canadiens the 1-0 lead.

Peter Harrold scored the New Jersey Devils lone goal on the powerplay in the loss to Montreal. That was Harrold's first goal since December 2, 2010. Ilya Kovalchuk picked up the lone assist on the goal.

Ilya Kovalchuk had an opportunity on the PK to give the Devils the lead but was unable to capitalize on the 2-on-1 which he rang a shot of the pipe.

The Devils effort in the third was nothing less than superb. They got 18 shots on Carey Price and he stood tall and made the saves which included a chest save through traffic stopping Patrick Elias and stoning Travis Zajac and Adam Henrique in the final minute of play.

"It's a tough one to swallow, but their goalie played well and so did ours," Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk said.

The Devils shot attempts weren't lacking as they were able to get 33 shots on Carey Price. Once again the inability to put the puck into the back of the net came back to bite the Devils.

Lost in all this was Johan Hedberg who had a phenominal game stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced. If it wasn't for a lack of goal support Hedberg would certainly have had a lot more wins during this tough stretch that he and the Devils have gotten into. Hedberg was playing in his 12th straight game while Martin Brodeur is still recovering from injury.

Defenseman Anton Volchenkov lost his footing shortly after the faceoff which allowed Colby Armstrong to get open and take the shot which he whistled by Johan Hedberg for the goal.

The Devils have completed a stretch where they were playing 3 games in 4 days (1-1-1) and will get some much needed rest before they head down the stretch for a playoff push.

The Canadiens are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins with the most points in the Eastern Conference.

The Devils also honored legendary goalies coach Jacques Caron at tonights game.

 

(AP Photo/ Bruce Bennett/ Getty Images)

The Devils will be back in action on Tuesday at the Prudential Center to take on the New York Rangers.

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