The New Jersey Devils defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Tuesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre, snapping a five-game losing streak. The Devils put together a strong performance at even strength, controlling play and finally breaking through offensively for four goals. The penalty kill struggled and made the contest far closer than it should have been, but New Jersey prevailed and came away with the victory. With the win, the Devils improved to 17-12-1 while the Senators dropped to 13-12-4.
Game Recap
Period One
The Devils found themselves down a man just seconds into the game after Stefan Noesen was tagged for high-sticking. Nico Hischier had a great shorthanded opportunity to begin the penalty kill, but off a faceoff, the Senators grabbed the lead at 1:36, after the Devils couldn’t clear the puck out of the blue paint. Drake Batherson got the goal with assists from Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson.
The Devils got a power play opportunity seconds after the goal when the Senators fired the puck directly out of play. New Jersey put four shots on Linus Ullmark on a good-looking power play, but nothing went in.
Despite the unsuccessful power play, the Devils tied the contest at 5:09 with a blast from distance by Simon Nemec that beat Ullmark for his seventh goal of the season. Connor Brown and Arseny Gritsyuk had the assists.
The Devils had a distinct edge in play, but Ottawa appeared to grab a go-ahead goal. Luckily for New Jersey, the puck was kicked into the net by a Senators player, and the goal was taken off the board.
New Jersey went back to the penalty kill with 8:30 to go, and the Senators got the go-ahead goal anyway with a shot from distance by Tim Stutzle that went through Jacob Markstrom’s five-hole at 12:59. Tkachuk and Dylan Cozens had the assists.
The Devils went back to work and were rewarded at 17:57 thanks to a rebound cleaned up by Gritsyuk at the net front. Brown and Cody Glass tallied the assists.
The Devils outshot the Senators 14-10 in the opening frame.
Period Two
Each team was assessed two-minute penalties for roughing, and they skated four aside a few minutes into the frame. With the extra ice, the Devils capitalized on a turnover, and Paul Cotter buried an unassisted goal at 4:21 off a breakaway.
The Devils surged again, and Ottawa eventually took a penalty, giving New Jersey its second power play of the night, but they didn’t register a shot.
Fabian Zetturlund crashed into Markstrom and knocked the net off, stopping play. Markstrom was a bit slow to get up, but remained on the ice. Hischier was assessed a slashing minor on the play. Zetterlund was not penalized for the contact with Markstrom or for knocking the net off.
New Jersey’s penalty kill faltered for a third time, failing on multiple occasions to clear the zone, and the Senators capitalized with another power play goal to tie the contest. Batherson got the goal with assists from Cozens and Stutzle.
The Devils were horribly sloppy after allowing the third goal. Failed zone clearances, bad turnovers and open lanes to the net forced Markstrom to come up with numerous saves as he was under siege.
A Senators player interfered with Markstrom again, checking Cotter into the crease and knocking him over. Again, Markstrom was slow to get up, but the Devils were able to gain possession and give him time to regain his bearings.
Markstrom had a lengthy conversation with the officials at the next whistle, clearly unhappy with the two hard hits taken in the crease that went uncalled for goaltender interference.
The Devils were outshot 10-9 in the period.
Period Three
New Jersey came out strong and controlled play in the early portion of the third. Ullmark was sharp and held the Senators in the game as the Devils surged, shift after shift.
Again, the Senators barreled over Markstrom but were finally tagged for the interference penalty, sending Tkachuk to the box at 6:46. The power play was completely disjointed in the first minute, but had some good looks as the penalty expired. Nonetheless, the game remained tied.
Jesper Bratt and Hischier had a two-on-one opportunity, but Hischier ripped the shot off the crossbar and out.
The Devils stuck with it and eventually forced a turnover, and Glass buried the go-ahead goal at 12:24. Gristyuk and Brown added the assists.
The Senators responded with some pressure, but Markstrom was there to preserve the one-goal lead.
Ottawa pulled Ullmark in favor of the empty net, and the Devils had a few opportunities to shoot for the empty net that they passed on. Jonas Siegenthaler made a crucial block with six seconds left, and Markstrom made another huge save as the clock expired to secure the 4-3 win.
The Devils were outshot 38-32 in the victory.
Takeaways
Third Line’s the Charm
The third line of Arseny Gritsyuk, Cody Glass and Connor Brown contributed to three of New Jersey’s four goals in Ottawa. Outside of Hischier and Timo Meier, the Devils had been starved for offense in recent games, and this line brought needed life to the roster.
Gritsyuk tallied a goal and two assists for his first three-point game, Brown notched three assists, and Glass added a goal and an assist.
Beyond the point totals, the group forechecked hard and was noticeably a step ahead of the Senators, who struggled to touch the puck, let alone generate offense against the trio.
Hopefully for the Devils, this type of strong performance can be the catalyst that gets the team back to its winning ways.
Special Teams Errors
Both the power play and penalty kill hurt the Devils and made the game far closer than it probably should have been.
Beginning with the penalty kill, all three Senators’ goals came via the power play. New Jersey’s penalty kill was very sloppy along the boards and turned the puck over numerous times, giving Ottawa plenty of Grade-A looks at the net. They also had a rough time clearing the zone, overpassing, and lightly chipping pucks toward the blue line that were easily picked off.
The penalty kill went 0-3 on the night.
New Jersey’s power play also went 0-3 in Ottawa. While it did generate some chances, the story continues to be the Devils’ inability to finish those chances.
Zone entries were particularly bad for the power play units. The Senators’ 31st-ranked penalty kill was able to clog the blue line and chip the puck right back down into New Jersey’s end repeatedly, making sustained zone time difficult to come by.
With Jack Hughes out for the time being, they need to find alternative methods to consistently get the puck into the zone outside of trying to dangle through defenders and carry the puck cleanly in.
Up Next
The Devils look to string together a second consecutive win on Thursday when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Prudential Center.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the two teams. The Devils took the first contest 5-3 on October 11th, while the Lightning won the more recent match 5-1 on November 18th.
Tampa Bay sits first in the Atlantic Division with a 17-11-2 record. They are 6-4-0 in their past ten contests. Most recently, they beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. EST on MSG.
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