Habs outlast Devils in shootout to earn eighth straight victory

Oliver Kapanen scored in the fifth round of the shootout to extend the Montreal Canadiens' win streak to eight games after Saturday's 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.

Cole Caufield failed to find his 50th goal of the season, but tallied a pair of assists in the win, while Ivan Demidov, Jayden Struble, and Cole Hutson all scored for the Canadiens (45-21-10, 100 points).

Both goaltenders impressed as Jakub Dobes made 35 saves en route to his fifth consecutive win, while Jake Allen stopped 26 shots in the loss.

Jack Hughes, Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer all scored for the Devils (39-34-3, 81 points).

Struble broke the deadlock with 4:02 remaining in the first as he sent a rocket of a shot into the top corner for just his second goal of the season.

Caufield picked up his second assist of the night just over eight minutes into the second period as he slid a sneaky pass across to Demidov, who made no mistake to bury the power-play goal and extend his point streak to five games (two goals, four assists).

Hutson stretched it to a 3-0 lead 9:28 into the middle frame as the puck bounced out to him with Allen sprawled out and an empty net in front of him.

Mercer finally solved Dobes as he sent a short-side snipe over the netminder's shoulder with 6:52 left in the second.

Just moments after Bratt was denied on a short-handed odd-man break, Hughes made the most of the second consecutive 2-on-1 chance, cutting the deficit to one with 2:20 left in the second.

Caufield had his best chance at finding his 50th goal with 7:44 left in the contest as he fired off a high shot from the slot, but Allen got it with the blocker.

Meier knotted things up at three with just 2:15 remaining in regulation as he took a pass from Hughes and sent his shot off the post and in.

Dobes robbed Bratt at one end, before Allen stoned Kapanen at the other during an exciting overtime frame.

--Field Level Media