No payback for the Senators

OTTAWA (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils were motivated by fear in their victory over the Ottawa Senators.

"We're scared of them," goalie Martin Brodeur said. "Look at that offense. They're a great hockey club and we want to beat them."

Brodeur made 26 saves for his 66th career shutout, Scott Stevens scored early in the third period and the Devils edged the Senators 1-0 on Saturday night.

"We always seem to play well against teams we're scared of," Brodeur said after the Devils improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games.

It was the teams' first meeting since the Devils eliminated the Senators in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals last season.

The shutout moved Brodeur into a tie with Toronto's Ed Belfour for the most career shutouts among active goaltenders.

Stevens, who missed New Jersey's game Friday night to attend a funeral, scored at 6:34 of the third period.

Scott Gomez won the faceoff for the Devils and Christian Berglund tipped the puck back to Stevens, who beat Patrick Lalime with a quick shot.

"As the game went on we knew it would be a one-goal game and it was just a matter of who would score first," Stevens said. "It's fun to play close ones. I think it was a good one."

Brodeur, who earned his second shutout of the season, and Lalime each made a number of big saves in keeping the game scoreless. Lalime finished with 19 saves.

"I think we played very well, it was a bit of a playoff game," Lalime said. "It could have gone either way. Unfortunately, we came up with the short end of the stick."

The Senators, 0-3-2 in their last five games, had a number of chances in the third period to tie the game, but Brodeur made the Devils' lead stand.

"This was probably the best game we've played in a long time," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We played a solid game, but just couldn't beat Brodeur. We did a lot of good things and I'm not worried. I know it will turn around. It's just frustrating not getting any points."

Game notes
Shane Hnidy made his season debut for the Senators after missing the start of the season with a foot injury. He celebrated his 28th birthday Saturday. ... Senators C Todd White is back on the injury reserve list after re-injuring his left shoulder, while D Karel Rachunek missed the game due to a sore back. C Mike Fisher remains out of the lineup with an injured right elbow. ... Devils C Igor Larionov remains out of the lineup due to a rib injury, while RW Grant Marshall missed the game due to a sore back.