We just choked, plain and simple.

Last night, the New Jersey Devils went down in a shootout to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3, right here at home. You had to be there to believe it, or maybe you just turned off the TV after the second period, which, no judgment. We were down 3-1 after two, with goals from Jayden Struble, Ivan Demidov on the power play, and Lane Hutson for Montreal. Dawson Mercer got us on the board, but it felt like nothing was going right. Then Jack Hughes, flying on the penalty kill, scored shorthanded, and the whole place, it just erupted. We went into the third period down by one, and you could feel the energy shift, like the whole of Newark was pushing them on.

Then it was Timo Meier, with just 15 seconds left in the third, tying it up from Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton. It was pandemonium, I'm telling you. Overtime, no goals, and then the shootout, where Oliver Kapanen sealed it for the Canadiens. We outshot them, 38-29, but it just wasn't enough. Losing to Montreal, at home, in a shootout after coming back like that? It stings. It's a point, sure, but it feels like two points were just snatched right out of our hands.

This stings, it really does. The New Jersey Devils are now at 81 points, still 7th in the Metropolitan Division, and holding on to that 7th spot for the Wild Card. Every single point matters, especially with how tight things are. We've got a decent run lately, 6-3-1 in our last ten, but these are the games you *have* to win. The mood this morning in the Ironbound? Not great, not great at all. We gotta bounce back, no choice. Next up, we gotta bring it.

Devils hockey, Jersey proud — Ant Ferriola, MiTL Sports Desk.

You gotta hear Keith and the crew break this one down — catch it live at mornings.live.