The skid had to stop here, Jacques Lemaire said he told his Devils.
“I was afraid of this game,” the Devils coach said. “Before the game, I said we’d better win this one because the games coming up won’t be easy, either.”
The Devils snapped their season-longest three-game losing streak with a 3-1 triumph over the Senators in Newark last night, stretching their suddenly impressive home winning streak to five games.
Thus relieved and perhaps, reinvigorated, they head to Boston for a noon outing tomorrow and play host to the Islanders at 1 p.m. Saturday. During this weekend, when Martin Brodeur plays 21 more minutes, he will become the all-time goaltending workhorse by breaking Patrick Roy’s record of 60,235 minutes.
Brodeur was superb last night, repeatedly making stellar stops to help snap the losing streak. But it was Patrik Elias who made the most notable mark on the score sheet with his first of the season, eight games into his return from September groin and hernia repair surgery.
“I feel like I can make the next step every game,” said Elias, still working his way back toward his top form he doubts he will reach this season.
Elias, the franchise’s all-time scoring leader, has been centering Jamie Langenbrunner and Brian Rolston on the Red Barons [three wings] line, but Lemaire wants him back on left wing when his injured troops return.
“I’ll see at that time. I know he’s getting much better as a centerman, making plays. He’s in control now,” Lemaire said. “A guy like Patrik . . . if you put him on wing with a decent center, [he] could be really effective.”
One of Lemaire’s projects, 2005 first-round pick Niclas Bergfors, started the Devils on their way last night, ending his three-game point drought 7:58 into play. Bergfors was ruled onside as he raced into the offensive zone while Andy Greene’s dump was coming off the end glass into the slot. Bergfors was alone to fire his sixth past the glove of Brian Elliott.
Ottawa answered at 12:34 of the first on a double-deflection of Jesse Winchester’s left point shot. Milan Michalek had the final touch for his 11th goal.
Elias put the Devils back in front for good at 18:34 of the second, tipping in another Greene point shot after repeated retrieval work from Langenbrunner. Elias had five assists in his previous three games.
Langenbrunner hit the empty net with 23.7 seconds left, despite the thrown stick of Daniel Alfredsson.
“It’d be a goal anyway,” said Langenbrunner, a major horse said. “I thought about shooting it in the corner and having it count, but I figured I’d missed enough already tonight.”
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Rob Niedermayer practiced with the Devils yesterday for the first time since his Nov. 4 injury, revealed yesterday by The Post as a shoulder separation. He is not likely to play this weekend. . . . Andrew Peters knocked Chris Neil out of the game with a left knee injury after a first-period hit that Ottawa GM Bryan Murray called dirty. Then Peters knocked Alexandre Picard silly in the second, drawing a roughing minor. That left Murray even more annoyed and he had a serious discussion with referee Kerry Fraser after the game.
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The Senators were without Mike Fisher (upper body) and Alex Kovalev (funeral in Russia). . . . The Devils assigned Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Ilkka Pikkarainen to Lowell for conditioning. . . . Tickets for the Marc Anthony DiNardo Memorial game, pitting Jersey City police against Devils alumni on Dec. 13 at 3 p.m., will be available at the Newark box office, and through dinardohockey.com and at 551-795-1775. . . . The Devils will honor their 1995 Stanley Cup team on Dec. 5 before the game against Detroit. Bobby Carpenter, Tom Chorske, Ken Daneyko, Bruce Driver, Jim Dowd, Chris McAlpine, Mike Peluso and Valeri Zelepukin will be on hand.