In Ottawa, the Senators surrendered a power play goal to the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, and then reeled off four unanswered strikes in a 4-1 win.
Both teams were coming off the All-Star break.
Matt Murray made 32 saves in the Senators win.
“I think [Murray’s] the reason we won that game,” Ottawa’s Nick Holden said. “The first two periods, I don’t think we played very good. We gave them a lot of opportunities, but he was there to shut the door to make sure we had the lead and kept it.”
Nico Hischier scored the New Jersey goal in the first period.
“It is frustrating, for sure,” Hischier said. “Nobody wants to be where we are. But we know that it’s on us and nobody’s going to do it for us. If you’re not going to dig in, then it’s not going to get better. If you’re on a losing streak, you have to play twice as hard, and we’re not doing that right now.”
New Jersey dropped to 15-26-5.
“We didn’t give up a lot for 40 minutes, but we left some chances out there,” New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff said. “I’ve said this before, we’ve got to score more than one goal. More players have to be involved in dirtier chances.”
Nick Paul tied the game, 1-1, before the end of the opening frame. The goal came off a lackluster line change by New Jersey that cost them any chance of defending the defensive zone.
Nick Holden scored what would prove to be the winner in the middle frame.
Adam Gaudette scored near the midway point of the second period for a 3-1 lead to Ottawa.
Holden and Gaudette scored nine seconds apart to essentially take New Jersey out of the contest.
“He’s powering through on face-offs, he’s getting to the front of the net,” Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said of Kastelic, who played his fourth NHL game. “He didn’t touch [Holden’s shot], but it goes in because he’s there. It’s a big boy’s game some nights, and he’s a big guy. He’s done a real nice job for us.”
It was the seventh straight loss for New Jersey.
“We’ve got to grip our sticks a little bit [tighter]. We can’t try fancy plays if it’s not going well,” Hischier said. “That’s just not how you get back on a winning streak. We’ve got to understand how we get out of this, and it’s not with cross-ice passes, it’s not with going in front of our goalie’s eyes, it’s not with losing our 1-on-1 battles.
“We just weren’t good enough today, and I hope everyone in there knows it.”
Though to be fair, New Jersey was never engaged in the match.
The Senators improved to 15-22-4.
Connor Brown scored in the third period for Ottawa for the 4-1 final.
“He’s only had one practice, so once he started to get a feel for it, he made some plays, and then ultimately he scores at the end there and seals it,” Smith said.
Nico Nico Daws made 20 saves in the New Jersey loss.
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