OTTAWA — The Senators didn’t get many scoring chances against the Devils in regulation last night, but it didn’t matter — they scored when it counted.
Mika Zibanejad put home the winner in the shootout to give the Senators a 3-2 win over the Devils.
“It’s certainly not our prettiest win,” Ottawa’s Chris Phillips said. “[But] that’s a big two points for us. They’re right on our heels in the standings.”
It was Ottawa’s second straight shootout win over the Devils this season. The Senators won, 2-1, on Feb. 13 at the Prudential Center.
Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was frustrated.
“We worked really hard and deserved a lot better,” he said. “They won the skill competition again, two games in a row against us.”
Chris Phillips and Colin Greening also scored for the Senators, who got 32 saves from Ben Bishop. Captain Daniel Alfredsson also scored in the shootout for Ottawa.
Andrei Loktionov and Marek Zidlicky scored for the Devils. Brodeur faced just 14 shots.
Devils coach Peter DeBoer would have liked to have seen his team’s effort rewarded with two points, but had no problem with the team coming out on the losing end of the shootout.
“It was a gutsy effort by us,” DeBoer said. “I don’t look at any points as disappointing. It’s a tough building. I thought our guys played their hearts out and deserved better, but we’ll take the point and keep moving forward here.”
The Devils tied the game 2-2 at 6:05 of the third period as Zidlicky beat Bishop with a wrist shot from the left circle.
After a scoreless overtime, Alfredsson scored on Ottawa’s second shootout attempt. The Devils’ Travis Zajac tied it 1-1, then Zibanejad’s goal and Bishop’s save on Loktionov ended the game.
Despite being outshot 12-4 in the second period, the Senators ended the period leading 2-1.
The Devils tied the game after Loktionov was able to find the puck during a scramble in front of Bishop, but Greening regained the lead scoring with just 17 seconds remaining in the period.
Kyle Turris beat the Devils defense with a shot and Greening jumped on the rebound to beat Brodeur stick side.
Ottawa jumped out to an early 1-0 lead scoring just two minutes into the game as Phillips picked up his fifth of the season.