Mr. Smith Flips the Senate | GAME STORY

KANATA, Ont. - Two weeks ago, the Devils suffered a 5-2 setback to the Ottawa Senators in New Jersey.

But in Saturday’s late-night session, the balance of power flipped with the Devils earning a 4-3 victory at Canadian Tire Centre thanks to Mr. Smith, the representative of New Jersey.

Brendan Smith scored a goal and added two assists for a career-high three points to lift the Devils to the win. He also blocked a big shot while killing a penalty late in the third period with New Jersey holding a one-goal lead.

“The puck found its way into the net. They don’t normally do that,” Smith said. “For me it was great. Guys were able to find me. I’ll take it because they don’t come very often for me.”

"You know what you're getting from Smith every night," interim head coach Travis Green said. "He's a hard-nosed guy, plays a lot of hard minutes. He's not afraid to sacrifice his body for the team. Anytime a guy like that gets a few points, you're happy for him."

Erik Haula, Ondrej Palat and Nico Hischier also scored New Jersey.

Jake Sanderson and Claude Giroux each scored power-play goals for Ottawa. Brady Tkachuk added a third-period tally.

The Devils had a 4-1 lead in the third period and held off a late surge by the Senators.

"I liked a lot of our game tonight, especially the first 50 minutes of the game," Green said. "I thought we got a little panicky when Tkachuk scored his goal. ... You try to tell the guys to take a breath but sometimes you just have to go through it."

"The last couple of games we had the lead and lost it," Palat said. "It's a big learning experience for our group to hold on to the lead and win the game."

Here are some observations from the game:

• Nice snipe by Haula for his 15^th of the season. It was his first goal since March 14 at Dallas, snapping a stretch of 10 games without goal.

Haula now has 29 goals and 75 points in his Devils career, marking the most points by a Finnish-born skater in franchise history.

• Do you want to know the power of Jack Hughes? Watch Haula’s first goal. Hughes had the puck in the neutral zone and swerved his way into the Senators zone. He then cut laterally, drawing the eyes of four Senators players. Meanwhile, none of the Senators were watching Haula. Hughes passed the puck to Haula and he finished with a beautiful snipe. The danger of Hughes has everyone focusing on him and allowing Haula to get space uncontested.

• It was quite a first period for Smith. It started when he had the puck in his own zone and was under pursuit by Dominik Kubalik. Smith faked a pass to his right, fooling Kubalik to skate in that direction. Smith then reversed and skated uncontested up the ice before finding Jack Hughes for the eventual Haula goal.

Smith then rounded out the first period scoring with his fifth goal of the season. He collected the puck at the top of the circle and unleashed a heck of a clapper for the tally. He added an assist in the second period to give him a three-point night.

• Smith’s goal was a great shot, but he also got some help. Captain Nico Hischier cut to the net as the Devils had possession at the blue line. Ottawa’s Artem Zub was shadowing Hischier. Just as Smith let his shot fly, Zub flash screened his own goaltender, Anton Forsberg, aiding in the goal. Forsberg was pulled after that, surrendering three goals on nine shots.

• Great read by the veteran Palat to pick up his 11^th goal of the campaign. Once the Devils gained possession at the point, Palat cut toward the net. Then he got his stick on Luke Hughes’ shot to re-direct the puck into the net.

"I just went to the net," Palat said. "Luke shot it right on my stick. I just tipped it. Lucky it went in."

Also, credit belongs to Alexnader Holtz for houding Jakob Chychrun and forcing a turnover and then giving the puck to Luke.

• Luke Hughes’ assist tonight gives him a six-game scoring streak (1g-5a), the longest for a rookie defenseman in Devils history (Barry Beck had two 10-game streaks with Colorado in 1977-78). Hughes also tied Will Butcher (44 points, 2017-18) for the most by a Devils rookie defenseman.

"He's a good young defenseman and has a chance to be a real special player," Green said. "When you talk about rookie records, there's been some really good defensemen that have come through New Jersey so it's quite an accomplishment."

• Green has loaded up the Devils with the power line – Hischier, Hughes, Bratt – at times late in periods. But he tried it fairly early coming out of a TV timeout in the second period. And his ploy worked immediately. After winning an offensive zone faceoff, Bratt set up Hischier at the net for his 26^th goal of the year.

"Sometimes you get a hunch," Green said of when to play the trio. "Those three guys are pretty dynamic players. I've done it before in the past."

Hischier now has three goals and eight points in his last five games.

• It’s been a while since teams have decided to add some muscle to match the Devils. That’s exactly what the Senators did with the recall of Bokondji Imama, who has 115 penalty minutes in the American Hockey League this season. And, as expected, he dropped the gloves with Kurtis MacDermid. Still, it’s a welcomed change that teams are catering their lineup to the Devils’ toughness in MacDermid.