New Jersey fails to hold two-goal lead, fall one point behind Ottawa in the Eastern Conference standings.
As the calendar turns to 2012, the New Jersey Devils find themselves sixth in the Eastern Conference, squarely in the playoff picture and back in familiar territory for the organization.
But there's just one problem - the Ottawa Senators are also sitting in the top eight, their 43 points tied with the New Jersey. The Devils will look to break that tie and stay ahead of Ottawa tonight at Scotiabank Place. Gametime is 7:30 p.m. and will be shown locally on MSG Plus.
This time last year, the New Jersey Devils carried a 10-25-2 record and sat 22 points out of first place. The organization fired their coach, John MacLean, and looked to Jacques Lemaire to try and lead them back to the playoffs.
Entering tonight's game, the Devils are 21-15-1, a season-best six games above NHL .500. Under first year coach Peter DeBoer, they've worked themselves back into the top eight of the conference.
New Jersey won its second straight game Saturday, ending 2011 with a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. llya Kovalchuk opened the scoring in the first period, converting on a penalty shot for his 12th goal of the season. David Clarkson stretched the lead to 2-0, tallying a powerplay goal at 19:36 of the opening frame. Chris Kunitz cut the Devils lead in half, netting his 13th goal of the season in the third period. Martin Brodeur would shut the door, stopping eight of the nine Penguins shots in the final period, and Zach Parise iced the victory with an empty-net goal.
The Senators have experienced their own turnaround this season. Last season, Ottawa finished last in the Northeast Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference. This season, under new head coach Paul McLean, the team is second in its division. They've won three straight home games and four of they're last six games.
Ottawa defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2, Saturday night. Matt Carkner and Chris Niel scored goals for the Senators as the teams played to a tie after regulation and overtime. Bobby Butler scored the game-winning goal, beating Jhonas Enroth in the fifth round of the shootout.
New Jersey won the first meeting between the two teams, 5-4, in a shootout on December 8. Ottawa jumped out to the early lead, holding a 3-0 advantage over the Devils at the midway point of the second period. The Devils came back, scoring four straight to pull ahead in the third period. Jesse Winchester spoiled the comeback, scoring with just five seconds left to tie the game at four. The teams traded goals in the second and third rounds of the shootout, heading to the fourth round tied. Rookie center Adam Henrique broke that tie, beating Alex Auld for the shootout tally.
Johan Hedberg slammed the door, stopping David Rundblad for the win.
Martin Brodeur will start in net for the Devils. He was pulled in the first game after stopping five of seven shots in the first period.
This is the second of four meetings this season and the first time New Jersey will visit Scotiabank Place. Former Senators defenseman Anton Volchenkov will accompany the team to Ottawa, but is questionable for the game.
Senators 3, Devils 2: Devils Blow Two-Goal Lead, Lose In OT
The New Jersey Devils powerplay isn't helping out their own cause. In fact, it's inability to stop the opponent from scoring is costing them wins.
The Ottawa Senators scored a shorthanded goal in the third period, then tallied a powerplay goal in overtime to defeat the Devils, 3-2, tonight at Scotiabank Place. The loss snapped the Devils two-game win streak and moved Ottawa one point ahead of New Jersey in the conference standings.
The Devils gave up their 12th shorthanded goal, by far the worst in the league, while holding on to a one-goal lead in the third period. With Jason Spezza in the penalty box, Devils coach Peter DeBoer sent two defenseman out on the powerplay. Mark Fayne sent a pass to Patrik Elias, but the puck bounced off the center in the neutral zone. Filip Kuba passed the puck forward to Erik Condra. He carried it down the right side and fired a puck that went off the stick and past Matt Taormina for his seventh goal of the season.
"It's another example," DeBoer told Tom Gulitti of The Bergen Record. "It's like Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. I don't know how you defend that one. I don't know how you start to defend it. So, we'll just chalk it up to what it was and we'll move forward."
Daniel Alfredsson won the game in overtime, scoring on the powerplay to down the Devils. Ottawa is 6-1-1 in their last eight games, and handed New Jersey its first overtime loss of the season.
The Devils jumped ahead early, with David Clarkson and Dainius Zubrus netting second period goals to give New Jersey a lead. But they failed to hold on, the third time they've lost a game after leading by at least two goals.
Despite losing the game, DeBoer still found positives.
"They're playing well," he told Gulitti. "They came out flying. I thought we did a lot of good things. Obviously, we have to find a way to close out these games and get two points. But you've got to keep moving forward in this league and pick up points where you can."
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Jan 03 2:49a by AJ Manderichio