Ottawa Sends Devils to Recess | GAME STORY

NEWARK, NJ - The Ottawa Senators built a three-goal lead in an eventual 4-1 victory against the Devils at Prudential Center on Monday night.

Shane Pinto opened the scoring nine seconds into the second period. Stephen Halliday, Tim Stutzle and Tyler Kleven also scored for Ottawa.

Arseny Gritsyuk has the only Devils goal.

New Jersey took nine penalties in the game with Ottawa converting on one of those tries. The penalities and lack of scoring sunk the Devils. 

"Just not enough screens in front, made the night a little too easy on (goalie Linus) Ullmark," forward Jesper Bratt said. "And he's a good goalie when he sees the puck, so. And then some details lead to them scoring on the power play. And, I mean, when you're killing off that many penalties, a good team with good individual players are going to score after all."

"We just didn't get on offense enough, and when we did, I think we were probably a little fatigued, as I said, because (the penalties kills were) so hard to get through. But it's something we got to do a better job of. We got to learn how to score when it's hard. That's just the reality of it. So, we got to stay with it."

The Devils are now 2-3-0 on the season. 

"It's five games. It's not fun to start the season 2-3 but we're only five games in," defenseman Brett Pesce said. "We're not sweating it too much."

Here are some observations from the game:

• Arseny Gritsyuk had the lone Devils goal off a nice rush play. He carried over the blue line with Timo Meier charging the net to provide a screen. Grityuk toe dragged the puck before unleashing a hard snap shot from above the circles that found the top corner.

• The Devils thought they got on the board with 8:02 remaining in the third period when Jesper Boqvist found a loose puck in the crease behind goalie Linus Ullmark. However, the Senators challenged for goalie interference. And upon review, Ullmark had the puck covered in his leg pads when Cody Glass jammed it loose for Boqvist to score. The jam was deemed interference and the goal was waved off.

• The PK was very busy in the game. But it saved its best for a five-minute major PK halfway through the first period. During that sequence the club allowed just two shots. That was thanks to a lot of blocked shots, quick feet, sticks in lanes and a great coordination on coverage. The crowd responded with some love. 

• As stated above, the Devils took five penalties in the game, including the five-minute major. They totaled 13 minutes shorthanded. And they successfully killed the first four. But asking your PK to throw up a blank on 13 minutes is asking too much. They finally broke on the fifth PK when Halliday tallied.

“It’s always a weird game when there are so many special teams going on,” Pesce said. “You can’t get into a flow. But no excuse.”

• The Devils made it a point to play physical – particularly Brenden Dillon. But really the physical tone started with Declan Chisholm stepping up with a big check in the offensive zone. A scrum ensued and Dillon got involved. Dillon was involved a lot on that front.

• The Devils allowed the opening goal for the fifth time. They have yet to score a game's first goal. 

• Forward Luke Evangelista missed the morning skate with an illness and was questionable to play in the game. He was able to suit up and play.