The New Jersey Devils lost 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators played a sloppy game, giving the Devils five power plays, but New Jersey squandered each opportunity. At the other end of the ice, the penalty kill, which had been hot, gave up two power play goals on three attempts. With the loss, the Devils fell to 28-25-2 while the Senators improved to 26-21-7.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils had the early jump, with most of the puck possession and the first four shots of the contest.
Connor Brown nearly opened the scoring with a redirection from the slot, but Linus Ullmark, in his first start in 16 games, was in position to make the save.
Cody Glass had a great look from the circle, but Ullmark made the shoulder save.
The Devils went to the power play after Paul Cotter was caught with a high stick, but couldn’t get anything to go.
Ottawa responded with a few good looks, but Jake Allen was up to the task.
Glass’ stick was slashed, sending the Devils right back to the power play. Timo Meier had a shot right off the initial faceoff, but New Jersey had a hard time setting up on their second power play and couldn’t capitalize.
Brett Pesce was tagged for tripping, and the Senators cashed in on their first power play opportunity. Brady Tkachuk got the goal at 13:38 with assists from Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle.
New Jersey responded with a great look off the rush, but Ullmark came up with the sliding pad save.
The Devils surged, and after a relentless play behind the net by Glass and Meier, broke the ice for New Jersey at 18:16. Brown added the secondary assist.
The Devils outshot the Senators 11-9 in the opening frame.
Period Two
Ottawa had the edge in the opening minutes, but Allen was sharp and kept the game tied.
The Devils started to find their footing near the halfway point of the period, getting the puck through to net and forcing Ullmark to make some saves.
Evgenii Dadanov got caught with a high hit, and the Devils got their third power play opportunity of the contest. New Jersey got some looks early, but surrendered a shorthanded breakaway that Allen fought off. The Senators killed the rest of the power play.
The Devils were tagged for slashing at 14:04 but got the crucial kill late in the period. New Jersey gained momentum, and Dougie Hamilton had a Grade-A chance from the slot, but Ullmark flashed the leather to keep the game tied.
The Senators pressed in the final minutes, but the Devils survived the late onslaught.
New Jersey was outshot 13-7 in the frame.
Period Three
The Devils were immediately tagged with an iffy hooking call to open the period, and after a failed clear, Dylan Cozens capitalized on the rebound at 00:37. Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson had the assists.
The Devils got their own power play minutes later, and it looked better, but still nothing to show for the effort with the man advantage.
The teams skated four aside after a scrum in front of Allen, but nothing went for either side.
Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt had a two-on-one break, but Ullmark wasn’t fooled and denied Hischier’s shot.
Allen came up with a big save of his own as the clock dipped under seven minutes to play. He made another huge save before Stutzle fired a second shot wide of the open net, keeping the Devils alive.
New Jersey got a fifth power play opportunity with five minutes to play, and at 16:04, the Devils appeared to score, but after review, it was determined that there was a hand pass and the goal was removed.
New Jersey couldn’t find the back of the net on the rest of the power play.
The Devils maintained possession, but the puck went the other way, and Stutzle snuck a shot past Allen to ice the contest at 17:53. Tkachuk and Claude Giroux had the assists.
New Jersey pulled the netminder in a last-ditch effort, but Ottawa hit the empty net to inflate the score.
The Devils were outshot 34-27 in the loss.
Takeaways
Special Teams Failures
New Jersey’s goal-scoring woes have been well-documented, and when the offense isn’t clicking at even strength, they need the power play and penalty kill to come through. That did not happen in Ottawa.
As has been the story, the Devils had trouble clearing their zone on the penalty kill, and it led to goals. They flubbed simple passes out of the zone, giving Ottawa second and third opportunities to set up and fire shots at Allen.
Additionally, committing to clearing attempts but failing to complete them left the defenders out of place and tired, and it showed as the team got scrambly in front of the crease.
As for the power play, Jack Hughes’ absence was noticeable, especially when breaking into the zone. New Jersey had trouble gaining the zone and finding a way to set up in their formation. Ottawa pressured hard, not giving the Devils time or space, and they ended up trying to force passes that weren’t there.
At the end of the night, the deficiencies on the power play and penalty kill were enough to sink the Devils in a crucial game that was there for the taking.
Up Next
The Devils head home for their final home stand before the Olympic break, which kicked off with a match against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
The Blue Jackets sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a 27-20-7 record. They are 9-1-0 in their past ten contests, most recently defeating the St. Louis Blues 5-3 on Saturday night.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the season between Columbus and New Jersey. The Devils are 2-1 in the season series, winning by a score of 3-2 on both October 13th and December 31st. The Blue Jackets win 5-3 on December 1st.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. EST on FDSNOH and MSGSN.
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