Introduction
The New Jersey Devils lost in overtime last night to the Ottawa Senators on the road. This is after coming back from down 4-2 in the third period. MacKenzie Blackwood returned to the lineup, as the Devils lost their fourth in a row. The Senators won their fourth in a row.
Recap
First Period
The first period was one that was fairly even until the Senators received a power play in the final minute. On that power play some nice passing got the Devils’ defenders moving. As a result, Thomas Chabot was left wide open in front for a tap-in. That was also his first goal since returning from injury.
Second Period
The second period saw a good push by the Devils. However, it started with Drake Batherson making it 2-0 just 11 seconds into the period. The Devils’ responded with a goal of their own, as Fabian Zetterlund powered his way by a defender and fed the puck to Nolan Foote for his first goal of the season. As the teams passed the quarter mark of the second, Ottawa was on their second power play of the night and they scored again. Tim Stutzle this time pounced on a rebound to make it 3-1. The Devils responded in the final second of the period as Foote whacked home his second of the game through the five-hole of Anton Forsberg to make it a one goal game again heading into the third period.
Third Period
The third and final frame saw even more craziness. First, the Devils let up another short-handed goal on a bad pass from Yegor Sharangovich. Stutzle the beneficiary for his second of the game. That made it 4-2, but less than a minute later New Jersey went the other way to make it a 4-3 game with a nice give-and-go between Jesper Bratt and Pavel Zacha. Shortly after that, Sharangovich scored on the backhand in tight to tie the game up for the first time. The game stayed tied, even despite a late Senators’ power play, so the game went to overtime.
Overtime
The Devils completed a good kill in the extra frame to keep the game going. However, with no Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier they couldn’t get anything else going. Eventually, Batherson dangled Ty Smith out of his skates and beat Blackwood on a great move to win it for Ottawa. They took it 5-4.
Notes
- There’s no way to tell if Blackwood was hurried back again because he wants to play before the season, but if he was healthy that game was a somewhat a concerning sign. Despite what some believe, the third year goaltender was mediocre at best, giving up -1.66 goals saved above expected (GSAx) and a -.36 GSAx at even strength. He made some good and timely saves, and certainly was better than before he got hurt, but still not good.
- The Devils bounced back from their previous two games in a major way, collecting more shots last night (41) than on Saturday and Sunday combined (36). Maybe a healthier Jesper Bratt was the difference.
- While the Devils had two of their top four young forwards out of the lineup last night, Ottawa had all four of theirs and it made the difference. Batherson and Stutzle combined for four of Ottawa’s five goals with their top defenseman Thomas Chabot scoring the fifth.
All Statistics are via. Natural Stat Trick.