The New Jersey Devils just came off their worst performance of the season. They got destroyed by the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. It was bad by all statistics, and the eye test might have somehow been even worse. The score was only 3-1 at the end of the game, and the Devils even had a late goal waived off for a questionable high stick, but we can't ignore how dreadful that performance was.
That gave the Devils one game until the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Most of the team will be off for the next two weeks. They don't want to go into the break with a bad taste in their mouths. They had the Montreal Canadiens, who have been in the tank for the last few weeks (3-6-1 in their last 10), and they've fallen out of the playoff picture once again.
Jake Allen made sure the Devils didn't have a bad taste. He shut out the Canadiens, stopping 34 shots along the way. It's not like the Canadiens were throwing junk at the Devils netminder. They had 15 high-danger chances against Allen. None got through. According to Natural Stat Trick, Allen stopped close to four full expected goals against. He stopped four rebound shots and three rush shots, both incredibly hard to do with consistency.
Jake Allen secures victory at a very important time for the New Jersey Devils
With Allen doing his job so well, it opened the door for the Devils to play with confidence offensively. They scored four goals on Sam Montembeault. It started with Jesper Bratt, who scored a beauty off an amazing pass from Tomas Tatar in the first period. Paul Cotter, Jack Hughes, and Luke Hughes finished the Canadiens off in the second and third periods, putting this far out of reach thanks to the play of Allen.
Jake Allen has played very well since Jacob Markstrom went down with injury. He's been the main reason for the Devil's survival with their starter out. They are 4-3 since Markstrom hurt his knee, and he should be ready to return soon after the break. Allen showed he can play just as well as Markstrom when called upon, and he might even earn himself a short extension with his play.