Hall scores four points in Devils win against Senators

NEWARK, N.J. -- Taylor Hall had two goals and two assists to help the New Jersey Devils end a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Prudential Center on Friday.

Kyle Palmieri had a goal and two assists, Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist, Pavel Zacha scored, and Keith Kinkaid made 25 saves for the Devils (12-15-7), who had been 0-2-1 in the past three games.
"Everyone is kind of sick of losing," Hall said. "I had jump Friday]*
Matt Duchene, who returned to the lineup after missing the past six games with a groin injury, had two goals for the Senators (15-17-4). Craig Anderson allowed five goals on 25 shots in two periods, and Mike McKenna made seven saves in relief in the third period.
"I thought offensively we did some good things but made too many mistakes," Duchene said. "They were hungrier than us and that can't happen. Their top line single-handedly beat us."
Hall scored twice in a span of 1:12 in the second period.
He scored a power-play goal off a pass from Palmieri at 4:07 to make it 3-1, and extended the lead to 4-1 off a 2-on-0 with Palmieri at 5:19. Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen blocked a shot by Mark Stone along the goal line five seconds before Hall's second goal.

"I couldn't believe that [puck] stayed out," Hall said. "I thought they were going to review it and find it was a goal. But we need those second and third efforts; really trying to keep pucks out of our net and blocking shots. It's those efforts that maybe we've been missing the past few games.
"It was a great play by [Vatanen]. If I didn't score that play would have gone unnoticed, but that's a huge play for our team."
Said Senators coach Guy Boucher: "It was a miraculous save by the defenseman. If that goes in it's 3-2, but they go back the other way and score to take a three-goal lead. That was a turning point for sure."
Duchene pulled the Senators within 4-2 at 11:53, but Hischier made it 5-2 at 18:58 off a rebound of an attempt by Hall.

Hall has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 13 games, and Palmieri has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games.
"It's fun to see [the top line] going," Vatanen said. "I don't think there are many guys who can stop them if they keep playing like that and creating so many chances. It's fun to watch."
Zacha and Palmieri each scored in the first period. Zacha scored his first goal in 14 games on a shorthanded breakaway at 2:03 for a 1-0 lead, and Palmieri made it 2-0 off a pass from Hall at 10:54.

"I thought we managed the puck and did a lot of good things," Devils defenseman Andy Greene said. "We had a better mentality coming in and just played the game, something we've been trying to preach for a few weeks. We didn't sit and wait for something good or bad to happen. We made something happen."
Duchene cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 2:20 of the second period.

They said it

"They deserved the bounces more than us and you can chalk that up to [Vatanen's save]. That [Hall-Hischier-Palmieri] line did a great job generating that opportunity and it's disappointing it ended up in our net. As a team, we didn't deserve it."-- Senators forward Matt Duchene
"It was luck; I saw [Mark Stone] was back door and I just closed my eyes and dove and luckily it hit me. Usually the winning team gets those bounces, so when you play hard and the right way you'll always have a chance to win the game."-- Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen
"The top line ignited some things. I thought Nico's line played well but you need the complete team effort. Kinkaid was good in net, and our defensive corps played well. We got contributions throughout the lineup, and our penalty kill came up big. You want your best players to be the best but you can't just be a one-line team. There wasn't a guy in the lineup that didn't contribute." -- Devils coach John Hynes

Need to know

The Senators were 1-for-5 and generated just two shots on the power play. ... Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot played his 100th NHL game. … The Devils placed forward Marcus Johansson (upper body) on injured reserve and activated forward Stefan Noesen off IR. ... Hall scored four or more points for the ninth time in his NHL career and second this season. He had four points (two goals, two assists) against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 13.

What's next

Senators: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, CITY, TVAS, NBCSWA+, NHL.TV)
Devils:Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET; SN, MSG+, FS-O, NHL.TV)