Brendan Smith had a goal and two assists and the New Jersey Devils snapped a three-game losing streak by holding on for a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
Erik Haula, Ondrej Palat and Nico Hischier also scored for New Jersey, which won the season series 2-1. Jake Allen made 25 saves.
“We’ve had a couple games with the lead in the third and we give it up,” said Hischier. “So, it’s definitely good to get that one.”
Jake Sanderson, Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa, which trailed 4-1 after two periods, and has lost three in a row and been eliminated from playoff contention.
Anton Forsberg got the start in net for Ottawa but was pulled in the first period after allowing three goals on just nine shots.
Joonas Korpisalo allowed one goal and made 18 saves.
With the Senators trailing 4-1, Giroux cut the Devils’ lead in half with a power-play goal from the top of the faceoff circle at 3:37.
Chabot back after injury
Moments later, New Jersey forward Jack Hughes was awarded a penalty shot after Ottawa defenceman Thomas Chabot wrapped his stick around him on a breakaway. But Hughes whiffed on the puck.
Chabot returned after missing four games with a lower-body injury.
Tkachuk made it a one-goal game with 5:43 left to play. Hischier’s slap shot went wide and wrapped around the boards and down the ice just as Tkachuk was getting on the ice and he broke in alone and beat Allen for his 34th goal of the season.
“The third period, it felt like that was probably our best period all year,” Tkachuk said. “We just did the little things right, put it behind them, got physical and a lot of guys stepped up.”
Devils interim coach Travis Green said the team may not have played its best in the third, but was relieved to walk away with two points.
“I thought we got a little panicky when Tkachuk scored his goal,” he said. “It was an unfortunate play in the offensive zone when we miss the net and they score. You could feel it on the bench a little bit. We tried to tell the guys to take a breath, but sometimes you’ve just got to go through with it.”
Sanderson put the Senators on the board with a power-play goal just 33 seconds into the second period, blasting a shot past Allen from the blue line to make it 3-1.
The Devils regained their three-goal lead at 11:04 with Hischier beating Korpisalo in close.
Sens fell behind quickly
New Jersey jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period.
Haula beat Forsberg under the arm stick side 3:50 into the first.
It was the 20th time this season that the Senators gave up a goal on the opposition’s first two shots.
“It’s tough,” said Senators interim coach Jacques Martin. “You make a mistake and the puck’s in your net. So we’ve got to be better as a group.”
Palat doubled the lead at 12:36, tipping Luke Hughes’ shot. Smith made it 3-0 with a slap shot from just inside the blue line at 16:34, ending Forsberg’s night.