Ottawa handed New Jersey a 4-1 loss on Tuesday in a game that quickly turned into a parade to the penalty box, and the Devils never really recovered.
The first period set the tone. The pace kept getting interrupted by whistles, with New Jersey taking two minors and Ottawa piling up nine penalty minutes.
Dillon helped crank up the physical edge after Chisolm was cross-checked following a strange sequence in which he whiffed but still ended up catching Pinto at the top of the offensive zone. Not long after, Dillon went after Zetterlund in a play that looked questionable as an interference call since Zetterlund had just touched the puck.
Then came Anthony Mantha’s boarding penalty on Matinpalo at 10:01, a dangerous hit near the boards. New Jersey’s penalty kill survived the full stretch, and the Devils even got a power play of their own at 16:58, but that ended fast when Shane Pinto tripped over Luke’s skate and drew an interference call on the younger Hughes.
With so much special-teams hockey, there wasn’t much room for either team to build offense. Daws stopped all seven shots he faced in the opening period, and the Devils’ best look came on a chance between Boquist and Lombardi that Ullmark denied point blank. The game stayed scoreless after 20 minutes.
Ottawa struck almost immediately in the second. Just nine seconds in, Pesce bobbled the puck off the opening faceoff, the Senators got a clean entry, and Amadio slid a cross-slot pass to Pinto while three Devils seemed to stand still and watch.
New Jersey then took two more penalties, including a weak slashing call on Halladay at 5:36. The kill worked again, but the Devils were sent back to the box at 8:16 when Evangelista hooked Grieg to prevent a back-door chance.
After spending more than half the game in the box, New Jersey finally got burned. Pesce caught an edge right in front of Daws, Halladay walked in untouched, and Ottawa made it 2-0.
The Devils did make a push late in the period, but they still went into the third without a goal. And the problems carried over. New Jersey had zone time and puck possession in the final frame, but there was little traffic in front of Ullmark and not much danger to show for it.
Ottawa put the game away at 11:10 when Tim Stutzle tipped in a Chabot point shot to make it 3-0, with no Devil anywhere near him. New Jersey briefly answered on a scramble by the fourth line, but Glass poked the puck through Ullmark and the goal came off the board for goalie interference.
Gritsyuk then scored his first at 14:59 on a rush with Jack and Timo, but by then it was far too late. Klevan added an empty-net goal with a little more than two minutes left to finish the 4-1 result.
There were a few bright spots for New Jersey. The Timo and Grits penalty-kill unit stood out, the fourth line had a solid night, and Luke Hughes put together another strong performance.
Daws also played well despite allowing three goals, making several quality stops, including two point-blank glove saves. Still, New Jersey has scored just one goal for him in 120 minutes.
Ottawa, meanwhile, looked organized and difficult to play against. The Senators had more blocked shots at the end of the second period, 17, than the Devils had shots, 16. With Ullmark playing well and Sanderson and Zub still to return, Ottawa looked every bit like a team that can make noise in the Atlantic.
The Devils now head to Detroit for another game tomorrow, and the larger concern is obvious: this can’t keep sliding. The early season is still early, but repeated lapses, sloppy stretches and too many minutes spent chasing the game are starting to pile up. A lineup change may be coming, with Grits and Mantha suggested as a possible swap, and the pressure on Keefe is already building.
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