The Devils are ranked 28th in the league with 172 goals this season, an average of 2.6 per contest. The Devils are ranked 15th in total goals against, conceding 3.0 goals per game (201 total) in NHL play. The team is ranked 27th in goal differential at -29.
Montreal controlled the pace of play from its blue line, with Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson controlling entries and placing the puck where the forwards could retrieve it easily on the forecheck. Toronto barely delivered any resistance at the net-front, as Montreal's Oliver Kapanen converted on a nifty passing sequence from Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov for the game's opening goal.
For whatever reason, we didn't start on time. They took it to us. We were on our heels and fortunate to get the one goal. After a wakeup call between periods, our guy responded, and I thought we got a lot of pushback.