National Hockey League
Ottawa 2, New Jersey 1
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Where: Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
Referees: Tom Chmielewski, Mike Leggo
Linesmen: Brian Murphy, Tony Sericolo
Attendance: 12343

NEWARK, NJ -- For the second time in less than a week, the Ottawa Senators skated out of the Prudential Center with two crucial road points after beating the New Jersey Devils 2-1 Tuesday night.

Missing three of their top forwards -- the injured Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman, and Bobby Ryan -- the undermanned Senators (32-20-6) received a stellar goaltending performance from Craig Anderson, and goals from Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson, to win for the fifth time in their last seven games, including last Thursday's 3-0 victory in New Jersey.

"We battled hard tonight," said Karlsson. "We didn't play our best, but we found a way to win the game, and at the end of the day that's the most important part. Huge win for everybody because we did it as a great group."

The loss was the second straight for the Devils (25-25-10), who received a power play goal from Travis Zajac and 21 saves from goaltender Cory Schneider. It marked the first time since Jan. 24-26 that the Devils lost consecutive games.

"We needed more tonight, it was there for us, we just couldn't get over the hill," said Zajac after New Jersey's fourth loss in the last six games.

The Devils outshot the Senators 30-23, and had several Grade A scoring chances denied by Anderson, who has allowed only seven goals in four starts since returning to the team following a two-month absence to be with his wife who is battling cancer.

"(Anderson) played well," said Zajac. "I thought we had some great chances in-tight. The saves he had to make were not easy."

After Anderson and Schneider each stopped 10 shots in the scoreless opening period, the Senators needed just 59 seconds to score the game's first goal early in the second period. Turris buried his 20th goal from beneath the right circle, the third time he reached the 20-goal plateau in his career.

"That first goal was so important because it allowed us to fall back and really play tough through the neutral zone and get them out of their comfort zone," said Turris.

Thanks to big-time saves by Anderson on New Jersey's Miles Wood and Michael Cammalleri, and Schneider on Ottawa's Jean-Gabriel Pageau, neither team scored again until the third period when the Senators and Devils swapped power-play goals early in the period.

Karlsson zipped a right-wing shot past Schneider for his tenth goal, extending his point streak to six consecutive games, at 4:11 to make it 2-0 Ottawa. Zajac responded two minutes later with his 12th goal at 6:37.

Anderson made one last game-saving stop in the final minute on Zajac in front to preserve the victory for the Senators, who remained two points behind victorious Montreal for first place in the Atlantic Division.

"Guys realized that they had to do a little bit more and step up with key guys out of the lineup," said Karlsson. "Today was a good example of that. Today we really embraced the challenge and everybody wanted to do that job."

New Jersey played without rookie Pavel Zacha for the final half of Tuesday's game after he suffered an upper body injury in the second period following a collision with Ottawa's Derick Brassard.

Devils coach John Hynes said after the game that Zacha would be further evaluated on Wednesday.

NOTES: Devils D Kyle Quincey was activated off IR and played for the first time in seven games after being sidelined with an upper body injury. ... Veteran LW Michael Cammalleri, who was a healthy scratch the previous two games, also returned to the Devils lineup. ... The Devils scratched D John Moore, D Seth Helgeson and RW Beau Bennett. ... The Senators were without their top two goal scorers, RW Mark Stone (neck), who has 22 goals, and LW Mike Hoffman (groin), who has scored 19. ... Ottawa RW Bobby Ryan was placed on IR Tuesday with a broken finger. ... D Fredrik Claesson was scratched by the Senators.
Top Game Performances
 
Ottawa   New Jersey
Erik Karlsson 1 Points Travis Zajac 1
Erik Karlsson 1 Goals Travis Zajac 1
Derick Brassard 1 Assists Joseph Blandisi 1
Erik Karlsson 1 Power Play Goals Travis Zajac 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Craig Anderson .967 Save Percentage Cory Schneider .913
Craig Anderson 29 Saves Cory Schneider 21
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Ottawa 23 2 1-2 0-1 7 16
New Jersey 30 1 1-1 1-2 9 25
Upcoming Games
  • New Jersey will play their next game at home against NY Rangers. The Devils have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .429 after a loss.
  • Ottawa will play their next game on the road against Carolina. The Senators have a W/L % of .484 after a win and .630 after a loss.