The New Jersey Devils desperately needed a win and were unable to get one last night. They fell to the Ottawa Senators, after having a one-goal lead two different times, 3-2. The very avoidable loss came in a shootout.
First Period
The excitement started early in Newark on Monday night as the Devils scored first less than a minute into the game. A Damon Severson shot from the point gave New Jersey an early 1-0 lead. Jonas Siegenthaler and Jesper Bratt got the assists. That assist was the 100th of Bratt’s career. He also leads the team in even-strength scoring.
The “Maven” Stan Fischler was in attendance and attributed the goal to Severson’s quick decision to shoot the puck instead of hesitating. Almost just as quickly, the Devils took a penalty as Ryan Graves gets sent away for slashing. Those type of penalties has become almost commonplace for Graves who is otherwise a very sound defenseman on the team’s top pairing. In Graves’ defense, taking that penalty did prevent an Ottawa scoring chance on Mackenzie Blackwood.
The Devils’ goal would be the period’s only shot on goal until 11:35 was left and Tim Stützle tallied a long-range shot. Devils would have some great scoring chances halfway through the first, including Pavel Zacha hitting the post for the third time in two games. Overall, the Devils had six of the game’s first eight shots. It’s should have ended with New Jersey having a multiple-goal lead, but that second goal wouldn’t find the back of the net.
Late in the first, we would see some scrums break out in front of the Devils’ goal. Severson and Zach Sanford would go off for separate penalties and there was some four-on-four hockey action. No one would score as the penalties expired in the period’s final minute. Devils would head to the locker room with a 1-0 lead, their first lead on home ice since Sunday’s win over the Flyers.
Second Period
New Jersey had a nice scoring chance early in the game’s middle frame. Tomas Tatar set up P.K. Subban who took a shot from the slot, but that was stopped by Anton Forsberg. Connor Brown appeared to even things up for Ottawa. Nick Holden skated into Blackwood seconds before, causing the would-be goal to be called off for goaltender interference. The play would be stopped seconds later after Austin Watson went down with an injury after blocking a shot in the Senators’ zone. He would return a few minutes later.
Drake Batherson scored for Ottawa to tie the game up. That sequence was started with Thomas Chabot entering the zone with some smooth skating. Batherson almost scored in the first as well, but Blackwood was able to stop that one. He was not as lucky the second time around.
Fortunately for New Jersey, they would get the lead back. That go-ahead go came courtesy of a P.K. Subban shot that was tipped by newly re-acquired Nathan Bastian. Even better is the fact that yesterday was Bastian’s birthday. How’s that for a gift?
That lead wouldn’t last long as a Brady Tkachuk once again tied the score for Ottawa. The Devils were unable to clear the puck from their zone and the puck ended up behind Blackwood’s net. Batherson would make a beautiful pass from behind the net that made even disappointed Devils’ fans admit it was a pretty play.
Blackwood would make a save on Tierney late in the second to preserve the tie. Tyler Ennis would get knocked down and then take a P.K. Subban stick to the face, temporarily stopping play. Subban was obviously going after the puck and could be seen apologizing to Ennis before he skated off.
Third Period
Tomas Tatar and Jimmy Vesey had back-to-back chances close range on Forsberg. Vesey’s shot on an almost wide-open net was blocked to preserve the 2-2 tie. A short while later, Alex Formenton would have a mini-breakaway in the Devils zone but it was stopped by Blackwood.
As the period began to wind down it became obvious more than 60-minutes were needed to decide the game. With a few seconds left, Dawson Mercer almost got a sharp angle shot into Ottawa’s goal but it was stopped. Shots in regulation were a rather even 22-21 with the slight advantage to Ottawa. New Jersey went the entire game in regulation without getting a power play of their own.
Overtime and Shootout
New Jersey got a scoring chance quickly but then Ottawa took possession. The Senators would spend a minute or so of the overtime skating around with possession, but not threatening. Ottawa would play this possession game to waste time before New Jersey tried to draw up something of their own. You began to watch over time and think, “does Ottawa even want to score?” They didn’t get a shot off and spent the lion’s share of the free hockey frame playing as if it were a penalty kill: not trying to score, just trying to stop New Jersey from scoring.
It seems Ottawa got exactly what they wanted by pushing this to a shootout. It was Ottawa’s first of the season. Stützle scored first for Ottawa and Tatar would immediately answer with one of his own. Norris scored on the second attempt for Ottawa and Bratt’s shot went wide. Batherson would miss, but Johnsson’s failure to score ends the game with an Ottawa victory.
Odds and Ends
The crowd at Prudential Center seemed pretty light. Then again, this was a Monday night game against an out-of-division opponent that was already re-scheduled. Ty Smith may have picked up a point with an assist on the Devil’s second goal, but he still needs to be more defensively sound. The decision to break up Johnsson and Mercer was a surprising pregame development. Meanwhile, Zacha’s terrible luck with the puck (bouncing pucks and hitting post) continues.