MONTREAL (AP) — Michael McLeod scored twice and the New Jersey Devils beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-1 on Tuesday night to snap a seven-game losing streak.
The Devils (16-26-5) were looking to redeem themselves after dropping the first of back-to-back games, 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators. New Jersey did just that by taking an early lead and pulling away on goals from Dawson Mercer, Nico Hischier, Jesper Boqvist and Tomas Tatar in his first game back in Montreal (8-30-7).
Brett Kulak had Montreal’s lone goal.
Jon Gillies stopped 29 of 30 shots for the Devils. Montreal's Cayden Primeau allowed seven goals on 34 shots as the Canadiens, who for the first time in 2022 played a complete game without pulling the starter in goal.
McLeod broke the ice for New Jersey at 4:36 of the first period when he converted a rebound for his fourth goal of the season.
Mercer made it 2-0 with 4:29 to go in the first. The Devils caught the Canadiens on the rush and the rookie took a pass from Jesper Boqvist and beat Primeau.
Kulak’s wrist shot from the point whizzed through a crowd of players and past Gillies to make it 2-1 at 5:54 of the second to draw Montreal within 2-1.
The Devils regained their two-goal lead just seconds after killing a penalty. Hischier was left alone on Primeau’s glove side and Yegor Sharangovic found him with a cross-ice pass for a one-timer.
The Devils added two goals in a span of 47 seconds late in the second period. Boqvist added a goal of his own from the high slot with 1:07 left and McLeod notched his second of the night from another Primeau rebound to make it 5-1 20 seconds before the intermission.
The Devils got two in the third. Zacha’s shot from the top of the right faceoff circle on a power play deflected in off Primeau’s glove and Tatar scored from the slot.
UP NEXT
Devils: At St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Canadiens: Host Washington Capitals on Thursday in third game of four-game homestand.
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