Devils sent slumping Canadiens to 6th straight loss

Blake Coleman had two goals and two assists and the New Jersey Devils handed the Montreal Canadiens their sixth straight loss, 6-4 on Thursday night.

Travis Zajac, Miles Wood, Jesper Boqvist and Damon Severson also scored and Nikita Gusev had three assists for his first career multi-point game. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 44 shots to help New Jersey beat Montreal for the seventh straight game.

Brendan Gallagher, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joel Armia and Artturi Lehkonen scored for Montreal. The Canadiens are 0-4-2 on the skid that began Nov. 16 with an overtime loss to the Devils at Bell Centre. They have conceded at least four goals in five of their past six games.

Boqvist gave the Devils a 4-3 lead midway through the second period, beating Carey Price off a rebound.

Severson made it 5-3 at 8:21 of the third with a shot to the top corner on an odd-man rush. Price smashed his stick on the crossbar in frustration.

Lehkonen scored 16 later for Montreal, and Coleman added an empty-netter with 1:16 left.

NOTES: P.K. Subban was playing his seventh game against his former team. The New Jersey defenseman got into a brief altercation with Gallagher in the third period, trading punches after the whistle. ... Montreal is 6-6-2 at home.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host New York Rangers on Saturday.

Canadiens: Host Philadelphia on Saturday.

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