Nathan Bastian and Nico Hischier scored in the first period and the New Jersey Devils defeated Montreal 3-1.

Martin St-Louis’ roster looked worse than the previous two shootout losses to the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers.

The Devils forecheck led to several turnovers from the Canadian out of bounds. And when the Habs were finally able to attack, Akira Schmid closed the door in front of the guest network.

Denis Gurianov was the only one to score the Canadian’s goal (26-34-6). Jake Allen made 34 saves.

At the other end of the ice, Schmid stopped 23 shots in front of the Devils’ net (43-16-6). Tomas Tatar inserted an insurance gate into an empty mesh.

No penalties were awarded during the match.

The Canadiens will host the Colorado Avalanche at Bell Center on Monday before heading to Pittsburgh for a duel against the Penguins on Tuesday.

A trained opponent

The Devils annoyed the Habs with their forecheck in the first game sequence, which lasted 1:40.

After 8:24 the guests took a 1-0 lead, Kaiden Guhle lost the disc behind the Canadian’s goal. Bastian hit the bull’s eye as he came back up front.

The Canadian missed a few scoring chances in the first half. Anthony Richard had the best chance when he broke away. However, Schmid parried.

Another rally from Guhle led to the Devils’ second goal with 61 seconds remaining in the first period. His pass from the zone found no buyer. Seconds later, a throw-in from Damon Severson was deflected off Hischier’s skate before ending behind the goal line.

The Devils filled the habs in their territory a few times in the second period without firing any particularly dangerous shots.

The Canadian finally made a comeback, reducing the deficit to a single goal with 1:37 left in the second period. Rem Pitlick stole the puck from Severson and then set the table for Gurianov, who beat Schmid with a good one-timer.

Allen gave the Canadian hope of completing the comeback by making some difficult saves in the third period. He saved his best save for Jesper Bratt and stretched his right leg to frustrate the renegade Devils forward with less than five minutes left.

Tatar delivered the KO blow with 90 seconds remaining and hit the empty net. A few seconds earlier, Jonathan Drouin had hit the post with a backhand throw.