Devils start fast, hold off Senators

Brendan Smith had a goal and two assists for the New Jersey Devils in a 4-3 win against the host Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

Jesper Bratt had two assists, and Jake Allen made 25 saves for the Devils (37-36-4, 78 points), who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Claude Giroux and Jake Sanderson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (33-39-4, 70 points), who have lost three straight. Anton Forsberg allowed three goals on nine shots before he was replaced in the first period by Joonas Korpisalo, who made 18 saves in relief.

Erik Haula gave the Devils a 1-0 lead on their second shot on goal at 3:50 of the first. Jack Hughes carried the puck to above the right circle before feeding Haula, who scored on a wrist shot blocker side from the left hashmarks.

Ondrej Palat skated to the slot to tip a Luke Hughes point shot past Forsberg to make it 2-0 at 12:36.

Smith extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:34 with a slap shot from the middle of the blue line through traffic, marking the end of the night for Forsberg.

The Senators got on the board 33 seconds into the second period on the power play on Sanderson's wrist shot from the blue line down the middle, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Nico Hischier restored the three-goal lead at 11:04. Bratt sent a backhand feed from below the goal line to Hischier, who quickly swatted it in for a 4-1 lead.

The Devils outshot the Senators 10-5 in the second.

Ottawa started to put more pressure on early in the third period and was rewarded for its efforts when Giroux's one-timer from the left circle beat Allen short side, narrowing it to 4-2 at 3:37.

Jack Hughes had a chance to put the Devils up by three again on a penalty shot at 4:19 but the puck got away from his stick as he got to the slot.

Brady Tkachuk scored on a snap shot far side from the left circle to pull the Senators to within one at 14:17.

—Field Level Media