Ottawa Senators Defeat Struggling Devils In Home Opener

The Ottawa Senators are finally home after a six game road trip. Looking for a fresh start, the Senators take on the struggling New Jersey Devils, who still haven’t won through six games.

Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

GAME RECAP:

The Senators started the game out with some sloppy passing, but manage to keep the Devils from scoring despite all of the turnovers. Erik Karlsson starts the scoring for the Senators just five minutes into the first period, scoring from the point off of a sweet pass from Bobby Ryan. Just a few minutes later, Ryan scores a goal of his own on a wraparound. Not a bad first eight minutes for Ryan’s debut in Ottawa.

As the Devils racked up shots, Craig Anderson racked up saves. The Devils were all over the Senators in the second period, yet the lone goal of the period was scored by Ottawa. With just over a minute left in the period, the Senators managed to capitalize on one of their few offensive rushes. The puck was brought in by Jason Spezza, who made a pass to Karlsson, who then followed that up with sending it tape-to-tape to Zack Smith who buried it home.

It took less than a minute for the first goal of the period to be scored. Travis Zajac scored to give the Devils their first goal of the night. It wasn’t for another ten minutes that the next goal was scored. The Devils were within one after Steve Bernier scored off of a quick shot that Anderson had no chance on. The Senators were up by two again after Milan Michalek scored on a shot that deflected off of a Devils defenceman. Spezza put up the last goal of the game after scoring on an empty Devils net.

SENSHOT`S PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Craig Anderson made some amazing saves, and only allowed two goals on 42 shots. He has to continue this type of play to keep his starting job the way Robin Lehner has been playing.

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS:

• The Senators took way too many penalties. This has been an issue all season. The Senators have to be more disciplined.
• The Senators may have managed to pull off a win with only 23 shots, but never being able to out shoot their opponent is going to be an issue when they aren’t playing the Devils.
• Karlsson looks like his old self again, which is a huge relief to the Senators.
• Erik Condra missed an open net chance in the third. What else is new?
• The Devils only scored once on the the man advantage despite having 8 powerplay chances, and it’s not because the Senators’ penalty kill is good. The Devils’ went into this game with a 6.7% powerplay. I didn’t even know it was possible to have a powerplay that bad.