Devils Dominate Sens in Daws' Season Debut | GAME STORY

OTTAWA, ON - It was both Devils and Daws dominance in Ottawa on Friday night.

Against the Ottawa Senators, Jack Hughes opened New Jersey's scoring with a power play goal at 13:10 of the first period, opening up the floodgates against Sens netminder Joonas Korpisalo. Jack's goal tied the game at one, and with just 7.6 seconds remaining in the first period, Jesper Bratt snapped a shot into the Ottawa net to grab hold of a 2-1 lead.

Hughes, in his 29th game played this season had a three-point night to bring his season totals up to 43 points (15g-28a). His nine three-point game games this year sets a new career-high, with plenty of real estate left in the year to build upon.

Dawson Mercer and Tyler Toffoli added to the Devils goal total with second period goals and the Devils fifth goal offered the biggest celebration from the bench, as Brendan Smith scored his first goal as a New Jersey Devil, and his first goal in 88 games, on a breakaway out of the penalty box. 

"It was so exciting to have them support me so much, especially after the game in the room, they were just as happy as I was," Smith grinned. "It just shows you how great they are. how much they mean to me and it just goes full-circle. It just says a lot about them.”

The multi-point games continued to pile up as the night went on, with Bratt wracking up four (1g-3a) while Luke Hughes had a three-point night, assisting on both first-period power play goals and scoring the Devils sixth goal with 3:32 to play.

“We got a win last game, but we were far away from happy about our performance," Bratt said post-game. "We knew we needed to step up and this was a huge game for us, we really needed these two points. It was a fully team effort and Nico played great in net and helped us out getting this win.”

And then there was the season debut for goaltender Nico Daws, his first game in the NHL since having hip surgery and an extensive sixth-month recovery. Daws was outstanding, calm and composed, challenging the shooters and letting in just two goals. The 23-year-old was back in an NHL net for the first time since April 12, 2022. Daws faced 27 shots, turning away 25. 

Drake Batherson scored the opening goal of the game, putting the Devils behind 1-0 at the 9:47 mark before New Jersey exploded for five goals, before the Senators would respond again. 

Jacob Bernard-Docker scored the Sens second goal, with 6:35 to play, bringing the final score to 6-2 New Jersey.

Here are some observations from the game:

• Congratulations to Jesper Bratt who tonight recorded his 200th career assist in the NHL. Bratt's assist on Jack Hughes's power play goal at 13:10 of the first period set a new career milestone. After a two-point first period, the assist, and a power play goal, Bratt has reached the 40-point mark through 34 games this season.

• Michael McLeod forced the Senators into their eighth turnover of the night in the second period and and Dawson Mercer turned it into the Devils third goal of the night. McLeod outplayed Ridly Greig along the half-wall to free the puck from his grasp as Mercer skated through both Greig and Artem Zub to make room for himself. In close, Mercer snapped the shot by Korpisalo and New Jersey took a 3-1 lead.

• Mercer, with his goal tonight, has 8 points (4g-4a) in the last 8 games.

• Tyler Toffoli's wrist shot clocked in at 110.7 km/hour

• Lindy Ruff has been adamant about his team improving the details of their game, including being more aggressive in their 50/50 battles. Tonight in Ottawa, New Jersey dominated along the walls, winning those battles, forcing turnovers, and giving very little room for the Senators to maneouver.

"Overall I thought it was a much better night in all areas," the Devils head coach said post-game. "If you look at the battles, the defensive zone we were good. Offensively, entering the zone, we did a lot better job managing the puck versus some of the other games we’ve played. You play like that, you give yourself a chance every time. You force the other team into a 200-foot game. But I still think it can be a little bit tougher to get through the nuetral zone, some times I think we could have gotten in front of people and stall them out a little quicker.”

• Jack Hughes's power play goal to start the Devils' offense was the first power play goal scored by New Jersey since Dec. 10 against Philadelphia. The Devils power play went 2-for-4 against the Senators.

"We were like 2-for-26 or something going into this game and we felt that we had played some good hockey on the power play but it’s all about scoring goals and creating momentum," Bratt said, "Obviously that last final touch was something that we needed and I think we kept that detail high and that was key to us winning today’s game.”

• Kevin Bahl played his 100th NHL game tonight. Coincidentally in the same town where he played his junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League with the Ottawa 67s. Bahl had his billet family at the game tonight, who proudly cheered him on in the crowd at Canadian Tire Centre.