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The Montreal Canadiens suffered a 5-3 defeat to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, marking their fifth consecutive loss. The club is languishing at the bottom of the table with a goal differential of -20.
As the team is in the third year of the rebuilding phase, things aren't progressing as the management and coach Martin St. Louis would have hoped for. During the post-game press conference, St. Louis addressed concerns about the team's performance.
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He expressed that, despite the struggles, he isn't overly worried about their overall play (translated from French to English 12:01):
“People ask me if I’m worried. Honestly, the way we’ve been playing, I’m not worried. It’s gonna turn around. I’m only a little bit worried about the confidence of certain players but it’s okay, we’ll work on that. But collectively, I’m not worried.”
Although it's too early to make a judgment on the season, the Montreal Canadiens have only won two of their last six games and trail by six points compared to where they were last season.
The club sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Division with 10 points and is 30th in the league standings. The Canadiens will continue their road trip to the Scotiabank next to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
How the New Jersey Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens
On Thursday, the New Jersey Devils clinched their second straight win after beating the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 at home in Prudential Center.
Jesper Bratt opened the scoring for the home team, giving them an early lead just 1:33 into the first period. Ondrej Palat extended the Devils' lead at 12:38 before the two teams headed into the second period.
Alex Newhook scored for the Habs, cutting the deficit, but Jonas Siegenthaler quickly restored New Jersey's two-goal lead. With a minute remaining in the period, Brendan Gallagher made it 3-2 for the visitors.
Jack Hughes made it 4-2 at 6:23 of the third period. Newhook kept the game interesting by scoring his second goal, bringing, the Habs within one goal. However, Bratt's second goal came with less than a minute to go, shutting the door on the Canadiens' comeback and securing the win for the Devils.
The New Jersey Devils face the New York Islanders next on Friday. The puck drops at 8 p.m. ET.
