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."