Thomas Chabot and Mathieu Joseph both scored a goal and assisted on another to help the Ottawa Senators end their three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
Angus Crookshank, Ridley Greig, and Drake Batherson also scored goals for the Senators, while Brady Tkachuk contributed with two assists. Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves to secure his 16th win.
Jesper Bratt and Tomas Nosek scored for the Devils, whose two-game winning streak came to an end. Despite their recent success, the Devils remain outside the wild-card playoff position in the Eastern Conference. They had scored 17 goals in their previous five games.
Jake Allen made 20 saves for the Devils but fell to 3-2 since joining New Jersey in a trade from Montreal. The Senators were behind 2-1 in the second period before scoring three consecutive goals from Crookshank, Greig, and Chabot.
“I think we stayed composed,” Joseph remarked. “We remained calm on the bench, and things fell into place. We found a way to keep pushing and maintain the lead in the third period.”
Crookshank gave Ottawa a 3-2 lead after Greig tied the game two minutes earlier at 4:10 of the period. The Senators scored three goals in the second period with just seven shots on goal. Both teams combined for four goals in the first 6:02 of the second period.
Nosek and Bratt scored 36 seconds apart to put New Jersey ahead 2-1 early in the period, but they couldn’t hold onto the lead.
“I thought we played the right way,” Ottawa interim head coach Jacques Martin commented. “Our penalty killing did a great job against their power play, so it was a really good effort.” New Jersey failed to convert on all four power play opportunities, managing only two shots on goal.
Joseph gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 4:56 of the first period while Ottawa was short-handed, capitalizing on an errant pass from New Jersey’s Erik Haula. It was the Senators’ fifth short-handed goal of the season, and it marked the 50th time in 71 games that the Devils allowed the first goal. The Devils struggled with turnovers, giving away the puck 10 times.
“We didn’t play well at all,” Devils interim head coach Travis Green admitted. “It didn’t seem like we were ready for their speed. When you can’t complete two passes in a row, it’s tough to gain momentum.”
“We had a couple of turnovers tonight that we would like to have back,” Green added. “But turnovers were only part of it. Individually, we didn’t play up to our capabilities.”
