The Devils were coming off of their big win in Pittsburgh and ready to get rolling. They knew that one win can spark a long winning streak. Unfortunately, they were playing a back-to-back and came into Ottawa not quite prepared, it seems, for the Senators. They fell by a score of 7-3.
It was the Devils’ first trip north of the border this regular season and what will be their only trip to the Canadian capital this year. It was also their first of 12 back-to-backs this season.
The Sens, who seem to be in a constant state of chaos as an organization, were dealing with their latest drama. On October 29 in Phoenix, a group of Senators players were recorded in an Uber vehicle badmouthing one of their coaches, their team system and their special teams performance this season. It, understandably, caused some turmoil within the team, but could also be something that the team could rally around in this game. This was the first game since the incident came to light to the public. It turns out that it did spark a fire under the Sens as they were capitalizing on every mistake the Devils made tonight.
No major changes to the lineup from the Pittsburgh game, aside from the starting goaltender. Kurtis Gabriel, Eddie Lack and Egor Yakovlev were listed as the healthy scratches.
New Jersey would turn to Cory Schneider, looking for his first win since last December, to get things going. Cory was making his first start in five nights but just did not have it tonight. Cory made 18 saves on 22 shots faced until Keith Kinkaid came on in relief at the 12:26 mark of the second period. Kinkaid would make 17 saves on 19 shots against as the Sens fired 42 shots on New Jersey goaltending.
The Senators countered with Craig Anderson, who was very good in stopping 30 of the 33 shots he saw before an injury in the third period forced backup Mike McKenna to come in. Former Devil McKenna stopped all six shots that he faced. The Devils had a total of 39 shots on goal tonight.
On the power play, Ottawa was 1-for-4 with four shots on net. Schneider stopped both power play shots he saw while Kinkaid was 1-for-2. The Devils were 0-for-2 on the man advantage with a total of three shots. The Devils had a 6-on-4 man advantage with a little bit less than five minutes remaining in the game with Kinkaid pulled and being on the power play, but obviously were not able to make anything of it.
The Devils got the scoring going in this game as Taylor Hall made it 1-0 at 3:14 of the first from Nico Hischier and Andy Greene. It developed when Greene pushed it out of the defensive zone to Hischier. Hischier skated through the neutral zone with it and dropped it to Hall just inside the Ottawa blue line. Hall made a nice toe drag move around the Sens defenseman and fired the puck by Anderson glove-side.
The Devils would strike again at the 11:20 mark of the first when Kyle Palmieri scored his tenth, the first Devil into double digit goals this year, from Ben Lovejoy and Hischier. This one came when Hischier won a puck battle along the far boards and gave it to Lovejoy at the point. He fired a shot that went wide and Palmieri grabbed the loose puck and deposited it behind Anderson to make it 2-0 Devils.
The Devils seemed to be riding high, but things were about to change. The Senators would score six unanswered to take command and the game.
It began at 12:05 of the first when Thomas Chabot fired a rocket by Schneider to make it 2-1 Bobby Ryan and Chris Tierney had the assists on that goal. Fifty-three seconds after, Mark Stone scored his first of two to tie the game at two. He scored off of a pass that went through Cory’s crease and between Damon Severson’s legs. He got assists from Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel. That goal was Stone’s 100th career NHL goal.
The second period was the Mark Stone and Colin White show. White started it when he scored 2:27 into the frame from Stone and Nick Paul. This one came while Ottawa kept the puck in the Devils’ zone and White was coming on the ice in a change, trailing behind the play and able to grab a puck the Devils could not clear and put it in behind Cory. That made it 3-2.
Stone scored his second of the night at the 7:35 mark to make it 4-2. He got assists from Duchene and Chabot. Things were getting ugly for the Devils but were about to get a whole lot worse. This was the goal that chased Schneider and brought Kinkaid into the game.
White scored his second of the night from Stone and Chabot on the power play at 17:44 to make it 5-2. This one was set up when Miles Wood went off for cross checking at 16:37. The Sens would get a bit of a bounce as the puck went off of Sami Vatanen’s face as it bounded through the goal crease and White put it in from there.
Things continued to go south for the Devils in the third period. At the 10:11 mark, Dzingel would score from Stone to make it 6-2. Here, the Senators capitalized on a turnover in the neutral zone and beat Kinkaid. The Sens had won only two of the five games this season that they have led after two periods, but after giving up six unanswered, it was New Jersey who had the steep hill to climb.
Travis Zajac would score for the Devils at 14:13 of the third to help the Devils with a little momentum towards coming back. He scored off of a tip in when Blake Coleman fired through a screen from the blue line. That made it 6-3 Ottawa and set up the dramatic finish with Kinkaid pulled and the power play (although coach John Hynes would not pull the goalie right away in order to avoid the Senators getting an empty net to fire on at will with no icing).
But the Devils could not score on the 6-on-4 man advantage and Magnus Paajarvi put the game away with an empty netter from Tierney and Duchene at 18:01 of the third to make it 7-3, our final. Anderson had been pulled just prior to the 6-on-4 due to an injury and McKenna was forced to face all of the Devils’ power play shots here.
The Devils, as a team, won just 48-percent of the game’s faceoffs while outhitting the Sens 27-14. Ottawa blocked one more shot at 15-14.
Individually, Andy Greene logged the most ice time with 21:05 total (4:19 on the penalty kill) while Hall led the forwards with 19:29 (including 2:36 on the power play and 10 seconds on the penalty kill). Palmieri fired the most rubber the way of Ottawa’s goaltenders with six shots while Greene and Drew Stafford led in hits with four each. Blocked shots were led by Jean-Sebastien Dea, Brian Boyle, Joey Anderson and Greene who each had two. With one takeaway each, Hall, Dea, Zajac and Marcus Johansson led in that category.
Next up, the Devils will need to shake this one off as they head to Toronto on Friday for a date with the Maple Leafs. That game is the Hall of Fame Game as the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony is Monday in Toronto and Martin Brodeur will, of course, be going in. Friday’s game at Scotiabank Arena starts at 7 PM and we will have coverage here for you.