Senators stop skid with shootout win vs. Devils
NEWARK, N.J. -- The Ottawa Senators entered Monday afternoon's game against the New Jersey Devils a little down in the dumps.
They had dropped nine of their past 10 games at the Prudential Center, and they were without their best player, defenseman Erik Karlsson, last year's Norris Trophy winner who was lost for the season Friday night when Karlsson's Achilles tendon was torn by the skate of Pittsburgh Penguin left wing Matt Cooke.
The Senators were already without another All-Star in Jason Spezza, who had back surgery last month, ending his season early.
The Senators came to New Jersey having not scored a goal since Karlsson went down. Ottawa coach Paul MacLean tried to keep a stiff upper lip below his bushy moustache before the game, but he came across as being just a little ticked off.
"We were a little down," said Jakob Silfverberg, the talented 22-year-old second-year forward who was playing left wing for the Senators for the first time Monday. "We really needed something to get our confidence back."
Leave it to Silfverberg, as well as little-used goalkeeper Ben Bishop, to give the Senators exactly what they needed.
Silfverberg scored on Martin Brodeur in the shootout and Bishop made 30 saves overall, three coming in the shootout, giving the Ottawa Senators a 2-1 win over the Devils.
It was the first win of the season in three games for Bishop, and just the eighth win in 26 career starts for the 26-year-old, who last won in March of 2012.
The victory was only the Senators' (8-6-2) third on the road this season.
The Devils (9-3-4) lost for the second straight time and third in their past four games.
Stephen Gionta scored a goal just 1:19 into the game to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. Then, Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson scored a goal midway through the third period to tie the game and send it to overtime.
"Of course, he's the captain and he's our best player," said Silfverberg, who set up the game-tying goal. "It's always nice for him to get one and I'm glad that I was able to help him out."
Brodeur had 29 saves in net for the Devils, but couldn't stop Silfverberg with the game on the line. Earlier in the game, Silfverberg had hit the post on one shot and had another attempt that Brodeur somehow stopped. In the shootout, Silfverberg wasn't about to let that happen again.
"I wasn't exactly worried about which way he was going," Silfverberg said. "I just wanted to get a quick shot off. That was the key, just to shoot it quick before he could do anything. It went in and I was very happy. We worked hard to get this win. It was huge for us."
The Devils came out inspired after having a lackluster performance Saturday in a 5-1 loss to the New York Islanders and totally dominated play, scoring the game's first goal and outshooting the Sens 17-9. It was the Devils' high period for shots on goal for the season.
The Devils wasted little time taking control of the game, and once again it was the team's fourth line that contributed.
Steve Bernier took a shot that Bishop stopped, but the rebound came out to the diminutive Gionta, who pushed it between Bishop's pads for his second goal of the season.
But that was it.
"We had a handful of quality scoring chances, but he (Bishop) made a few big saves," Devils head coach Peter DeBoer said. "We had the opportunities to get that second goal, but we let them hang around and you see what happens when you do that. They showed some resiliency and finally got one in the third."
The Devils suffered a big blow when Ryan Carter was sandwiched into the boards by Chris Neil and Dave Dziurzynski and went down hard, favoring his right shoulder. The Devils labeled Carter's injury as "an upper body injury" and he did not return.
"It hurts, because he's one of our better players," said DeBoer, who didn't know the extent of Carter's injury.
The Senators finally tied the game at 1-1, when 40-year-old captain Alfredsson lifted a backhand attempt over Brodeur with 11:48 left. It was the fourth goal of the season for Alfredsson and the 420th of his 17-year career. Silfverberg and Kyle Turris received assists on the play.
The game went into overtime with the Senators having a one-man advantage, 4-on-3, but the Senators managed just one shot by Alfredsson that was stopped by Brodeur.
Notes: Knowing that he lost Karlsson for the season, MacLean was less than cordial before the game. "We're a work ethic-based team and that never changes," he said. "That's what we're going to be. We're always going to play the same way." Karlsson had 19 goals and 59 assists for the Senators last season, earning the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman. ... DeBoer admitted his team has hit a bit of a lull. "We lost a little bit of that edge we had early on," he said. "We need to get that back." ... The Devils sent center Jacob Josefson to Albany of the AHL and recalled center Andrei Loktionov, who was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings Feb. 6 for a fifth-round draft pick. Josefson saw action in each of the previous 15 games, collecting just one assist. DeBoer said it was a move to attempt to keep the third and fourth lines as fresh as possible. ... Defenseman Mark Fayne, who made two giveaways Friday night in the win over the Philadelphia Flyers, was a healthy scratch for a second straight game for the Devils. ... Kovalchuk saw his six-game scoring streak come to an end.