The Ottawa Senators had their momentum stumbled after back-to-back losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche. Riding a two-game losing streak, the Senators headed to Brick City to take on the New Jersey Devils for the third and final time this season.
The Senators and Devils each earned one regulation win against each other earlier this season. In the rubber match of the season series, the Senators were able to escape.
The Senators defeated the Devils 3-2 at Prudential Center to improve to 37-27-5 on the season. The win helped the Senators now have 79 points on the season and remain in the first Wild Card spot.
In a must win game for both teams, both teams came out of the gate with quality chances in the first period. After a scoreless first period, the second period would be taken over by the Senators.
The Senators came out in the second period and took advantage of the Devils playing sloppy. At 4:05 into the second period, Brady Tkachuk scored his team leading 28th goal of the season on a tip-in past Jake Allen. Thirty-three seconds later, another tip-in goal occurred.
Drake Batherson would then score on a tip-in from a pass from Dylan Cozens. Batherson picked up his 20th goal of the season to have three consecutive 20-goal seasons on the goal, and Cozens picked up his seventh point as a Senator in eight games.
Right place, right time 👊#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/OWrmj3DvtL
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 23, 2025
Even when Nico Hischier scored a powerplay goal to cut the Senators lead to 2-1, the Senators wouldn't panic. David Perron scored a powerplay goal 1:31 later after Hischier's goal to put the Senators back up by two goals. The Senators scored three goals in a span of 4:39 to take a 3-1 lead heading into the second intermission. When a win looked like it was locked down, the Devils had other ideas.
In the third period, Erik Haula scored a goal to make it a 3-2 game with just over 23 seconds left to play in regulation. In the final seconds, chaos occurred.
The Devils had a chance in the final seconds to score on Linus Ullmark to tie the game at three in the final seconds. With the puck loose in the crease for the Devils to score, Artem Zub cleared the puck out to make sure the Senators locked down the win. Definitely a sigh of relief for the Senators and their fans when Zub cleared the puck out.
A little bit of chaos at the end of the Sens and Devils game. 👀 pic.twitter.com/LRNupY22ms
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 23, 2025
After allowing in eights goals over his last two starts, Ullmark was better by finishing with 25 saves. Ullmark responded to his recent two-game cold stretch by helping the Senators earn a huge win for their playoff chase.
The Senators will return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to KeyBank Center for a showdown with the Buffalo Sabres. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Both games against the Sabres this season have been awful.
In the first meeting on Nov. 5 in Buffalo, the Senators fell 5-1. In the second meeting in Ottawa on Jan. 9, the Senators were shutout 4-0.