Jack Hughes scores in OT, Devils defeat Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Jack Hughes scored on a breakaway with 54 seconds remaining in overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Jake Allen made 29 saves for New Jersey (28-17-6), which won its second straight after four consecutive losses (0-2-2). Captain Nico Hischier scored but left in the third period with an undisclosed injury.

“They’re a fast team,” Hughes said. “We gave a few rushes to them, and they capitalized. But it was a really good job in the third [period] for us to dig in, especially losing Nico there. The ‘D’ held on strong and obviously Jake played great tonight.”

Jakub Dobes made 40 saves in his first loss in six NHL starts. Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists, and Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist for Montreal (24-20-5), which lost consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 12-14.

“[Dobes] kept us in the game tonight and gave us a chance,” Caufield said.

Alexandre Carrier tied it 3-3 at 3:34 of the third period for Montreal when he scored off a face-off won by Suzuki. Carrier one-timed a slap shot from the point on a pass from Kaiden Guhle.

“It would be a lot easier if we didn’t fall behind 2-0 in the first period,” Carrier said. “We had energy at the start, they came out strong. It’s just mental errors that we have to eliminate from our game.”

Hischier put New Jersey up 1-0 at 15:52 of the first period. He drove to the left of the net and reached behind the goal line to take in a pass from Bratt before pulling the puck back to tuck it into the net on the backhand.

Bratt made it 2-0 at 17:48 when he carried the puck behind the Canadiens’ net and scored stick side on Dobes with a backhand from the left face-off circle.

“After the first, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to get going,’” Dobes said. “The guys are playing pretty well, and we just need to get back in the game, and that’s what I did so I’m proud of it, that I battled and gave the team a chance to win. But I need to play a full 60 [minutes].”

Suzuki cut it to 2-1 at 3:50 of the second on a one-timer from the right edge of the slot.

Tomas Tatar pushed it to 3-1 at 12:56. He tipped Curtis Lazar’s point shot and got to the rebound before scoring on a backhand.

“I think our line got rewarded,” Tatar said. “We had a sound game. We were strong on the puck, doing all the right things, and got rewarded.”

Caufield drew Montreal within 3-2 at 17:05 when he took a drop pass from Suzuki and cut to his left before firing a wrist shot past Allen’s glove from the top of the slot.

Hischier left 36 seconds into the third after taking the first shift of the period.

“Obviously he was unable to finish the game,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. “So it’s one of these things, I expect him to be day to day but we’ll just see where he’s at tomorrow, how things settle down.”

The Devils were already without goalie Jacob Markstrom, who was injured in a 5-1 win against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday; he will be out 4-6 weeks because of a sprained MCL in his knee.

“There’s not going to be a team all year that’s not going to lose important guys during times in the season,” Allen said. “‘Marky’s’ been our best player all year and he’s probably going to be when he comes back, but we’re just trying to hold the fort until he does and we’ll get the ball rolling a little bit here.”

NOTES: The Devils have won nine straight against Montreal, tying their longest winning streak against a single team in franchise history. New Jersey won nine straight against the Florida Panthers from Oct. 25, 2000 to Nov. 23, 2005. … Jack Hughes scored his eighth overtime goal to tie Scott Niedermayer for second in franchise history. Patrik Elias is first with 16.