NHL

Devils lose to Senators in OT

OTTAWA — Daniel Alfredsson did it again for the Ottawa Senators.

Alfredsson scored his 401st goal on a power play 4 minutes into overtime to give Ottawa a 3-2 win over the Devils on Monday night.

The Ottawa captain, who scored his 400th in overtime Friday against Calgary, beat Martin Brodeur with 59.4 seconds left in the extra period after David Clarkson was called for hooking 2:58 into overtime.

“It was like deja vu,” said Erik Condra, who pulled the Senators even at 2 with a short-handed goal 13:17 into the third.

Ottawa, which earned a shootout win at Buffalo on Saturday, scored a pair in the third to erase a two-goal deficit.

“It’s fun to win at home and come back the way we did,” Alfredsson said. “I think it builds character – finding ways to win. We’ve done a good job. Every night’s a battle, you’ve just got to come in and try to steal as many points as you can and we’ve been doing that pretty well lately.”

Jason Spezza scored on a breakaway 1:21 into the third to spoil Brodeur’s bid for his first shutout of the season.

Condra fooled Brodeur with a shot from the right faceoff circle that slipped in under the glove of the NHL’s career leader in wins and shutouts. That tied it with 6:43 left in regulation and Spezza in the penalty box for tripping.

“Brodeur was huge for them tonight and if we could sneak anything by him, we did, and that was good for us,” Condra said.

Craig Anderson made 27 saves for the Senators, who have won three in a row.

“We don’t preach before the game, `Let’s give them two and then come from behind,'” Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. “We like to say, `Let’s get out and get the lead,’ and we’d like to have the opportunity to hold the lead and play with the lead and gain that experience, but until we do that we’ll take the wins the way they come.”

Dainius Zubrus and David Clarkson scored in the second to put New Jersey up 2-0. The Devils had won two in a row and nine of 12.

“It’s a road game and we know they’re playing really well, they’ve been flying high as of late, so to get a point is good. But in the position that we’re in in the game, we should have got two,” said Brodeur, who made 29 saves, including a right pad stop to deny Zack Smith’s shot in the first minute of overtime.

Anderson flashed his right pad to rob Zach Parise moments later.

The Senators goalie was helped by a video review in the first that kept the game scoreless despite referee Kyle Rehman signaling a goal for New Jersey’s Travis Zajac.

Zajac jumped on a terrible turnover by Ottawa defenseman Brian Lee at the edge of the crease and Rehman pointed repeatedly to the net after the Devils center snapped off a quick shot.

Television replays showed that Zajac’s shot struck the crossbar and the puck rolled along the goal line but did not enter the net. A loud cheer from the sold-out crowd of 19,573 greeted the referee’s announcement that the goal did not count.

Zubrus scored his first goal in six games 7:47 into the middle period off a faceoff immediately after Ilya Kovalchuk was denied by Anderson on a breakaway.

Anderson squeezed his pads together to deny Kovalchuk, who jumped on Erik Karlsson’s turnover to go in alone.

Senators center Zenon Konopka turned over the puck to Petr Sykora off the ensuing faceoff. Anderson stopped Sykora’s shot but Zubrus slipped the rebound under the goalie’s pad for his 11th goal.

New Jersey went up 2-0 on Clarkson’s third goal in four games shortly after Spezza rang a shot off the left post during an Ottawa power play.

Senators right wing Chris Neil and New Jersey’s Eric Boulton squared off for a long fight immediately after the puck was dropped at center ice on the faceoff following Clarkson’s goal.

“I thought it gave us some momentum. I thought it was a real good bout and I thought it gave us some energy when maybe we were a little flat,” MacLean said.

Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips left the game after Zubrus’ goal. He sustained an upper-body injury and did not return.

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Brodeur’s last shutout, which extended his record to 116, was on March 25, when he stopped 27 shots in a 1-0 shootout loss at Pittsburgh. … Devils coach Peter DeBoer used his timeout with 6.5 seconds left in the third. … Neil played his 690th regular-season game to move past Radek Bonk into fourth place on Ottawa’s career list. … The Senators have sold out 12 of 21 home games at Scotiabank Place.