-----------------------------
Ottawa 2 1 0--3
New Jersey 0 1 1--2
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Ottawa, Havlat 12 (Rachunek, Arvedson),
0:38. 2, Ottawa, Hossa 23 (Yashin, Arvedson), 19:46. Penalties: Rivers,
Ott (slashing), 16:26.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Ottawa, Hnidy 3 (Alfredsson, Persson),
2:12. 4, New Jersey, Elias 21 (Commodore, Sykora), 8:57. Penalties:
Redden, Ott (roughing), 0:18; S Stevens, N.J. (slashing), 0:18;
Alfredsson, Ott (interference), 12:01; T Stevenson, N.J. (holding), 12:52;
K Daneyko, N.J. (tripping), 3:52.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, New Jersey, Sykora 22 (Nemchinov, Brylin),
19:39. Penalties: Persson, Ott (holding), 5:51; Holik, N.J. (slashing),
10:16.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Ottawa 9 11 2--22
New Jersey 9 10 8--27
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Ott - 0 of 3, Njd - 0 of 3. Goalies: Ottawa,
Lalime (27 shots, 25 saves; record: 22-13-4). New Jersey, M Brodeur (22,
19; record: 26-12-10). A:16,291. Referees: P Devorski, Murphy. Linesmen:
Dapuzzo, Morin.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Ottawa New Jersey
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Alfredsson 0 1 even 0 Arnott 0 0 +1 1
Arvedson 0 2 +2 0 Brylin 0 1 +1 0
Bonk 0 0 -1 0 Commodore 0 1 +1 1
Dackell 0 0 even 0 Elias 1 0 +1 1
Emmons 0 0 even 1 Gomez 0 0 -2 3
Fisher 0 0 +1 2 Holik 0 0 even 2
Havlat 1 0 +2 2 K Daneyko 0 0 -2 0
Hnidy 1 0 +1 4 Madden 0 0 -1 1
Hossa 1 0 even 5 Mitchell 0 0 -2 2
Mceachern 0 0 -1 1 Mogilny 0 0 -2 1
Persson 0 1 even 1 Nemchinov 0 1 -1 1
Phillips 0 0 -1 0 Pandolfo 0 0 -1 0
Rachunek 0 1 +1 0 R Mckay 0 0 even 2
Redden 0 0 +1 1 S Stevens 0 0 +1 1
Rivers 0 0 even 0 Sutton 0 0 even 1
Roy 0 0 even 1 Sykora 1 1 +2 5
Yashin 0 1 even 4 T Stevenson 0 0 even 3
Zamuner 0 0 -1 0 White 0 0 even 2
York Ankle Injury Rafalski Shoulder
Forbes Healthy Kelly Healthy
J Mckenzie Healthy
Game Story
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Rookie Martin Havlat and
Marian Hossa scored first-period goals as the Ottawa Senators
regained sole possession of first place in the Eastern
Conference with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
Patrick Lalime stopped 27 shots for his career-high 22nd win
while tying the 1998-99 team record shared by Ron Tugnutt and
Damian Rhodes.
"The guys in front played pretty well," Lalime said. "They
limited their chances and took away rebounds. I think we played
solid for 60 minutes. They had the best power play in the
league and we shut them down."
The teams were tied atop the East with 70 points and primed for
another classic duel after a thrilling 4-4 tie in Ottawa six
days earlier.
But Havlat took the emotion out of the New Jersey crowd by
scoring 38 seconds into the game. Rookie defenseman Karel
Rachunek had the puck near the right goal line before threading
a pass in front to Havlat, who beat goalie Martin Brodeur for
his 12th of the season.
New Jersey seemed content to carry the one-goal deficit into the
second period, but Ottawa converted a 3-on-2 in the waning
moments into a back-breaking goal.
With 14 seconds left, Hossa collected a pass from Alexei Yashin
in the low slot and had his shot stopped by Brodeur. But the
All-Star right wing banged in his own rebound for his
team-leading 23rd goal.
"Those were key goals," Hossa said. "It got everyone pumped up.
The one on the last shift gave us a lot of excitement heading
into the dressing room. We are really pleased on how we've
fared against them."
Ottawa rookie defenseman Shane Hnidy scored a fluke goal early
in the second that proved to be the game-winner. Brodeur became
off-balanced after stopping two sharp-angle shots by Hnidy from
the right side and was standing parallel to the goal line when
he let a third attempt go off the front of his pad and into the
net for a 3-0 Senators' bulge.
"I was trying to get out of the way, but I was facing the
glass," Brodeur said. "It hit one skate and then the other and
it just went in."
Patrik Elias got New Jersey on the board midway through the
second period and linemate Petr Sykora cut the deficit to one
with 21 seconds left. But the Devils could not get the puck
back in the Senators' zone the rest of the way.
Ottawa managed just two shots in the third period and got a
little lucky when New Jersey's Sergei Brylin hit the post with
46 seconds left.
New Jersey is 0-1-2-1 in its last four games, its longest
winless stretch since a six-game losing streak from November
2-14.
"We went around out there like we had a piano on our backs,"
Devils coach Larry Robinson said. "We've been practicing less
and playing worse. It's time to pick up our practices and get
our guys' legs back because they went on the All-Star break and
left them wherever they were."
Already missing injured defensemen Scott Niedermayer and Brian
Rafalski, the Devils lost leading scorer Alexander Mogilny after
two periods with an apparent stomach injury and center Jason
Arnott late in the third after he was cut on the face.
"We were shorthanded tonight to start with and we finished the
game without Arnie and Alex, but that's no excuse," Sykora said.
"We should have put out a better effort tonight. This is a team
we have developed a rivalry with and we should have played a
more emotional game."
Brodeur made 19 saves but suffered his first regulation loss
since December 16. The Devils had been 12-0-6-3 in his previous
21 starts.
"We don't have our whole team. Guys are going down left and
right lately," he said. "We'll have to change our style of play
in the meantime. (The Senators) are very disciplined. Even
their big guns still play within the framework of the team."
Ottawa has won consecutive games following a five-game winless
streak (0-2-2-1) and improved to 14-10-4-0 on the road.
"Having the best record in the Eastern Conference is very
important, and we took a step in the right direction with
tonight's win," Yashin said. "We got them at the two worst
times for a team to surrender a goal, very early and very late
in the period. That helped us sustain our emotion throughout
the game."