Senators grab third straight win in Newark

In Newark, the New Jersey Devils led the Ottawa Senators by one goal twice in regulation, but were unable to hold either lead.

“We trailed twice and stayed with it,” Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said. “There wasn’t a ton of room out there tonight. We stayed disciplined, which was huge. We didn’t [allow any power plays]. We played within our systems. And in every guy, you could see some confidence. Earlier in the year, we don’t win that game. We would’ve found a way to make a mistake or guys would’ve panicked a little bit.”

In the third period, Brady Tkachuk scored to tie the game, 2-2, forcing extra time and then the skills competition, before Josh Norris was credited with the strike in a 3-2 win for Senators.

“I thought we played a good road game,” Norris said. “A lot of good things. I thought [Forsberg] was great again. Three in a row for him, which is huge. We just did a lot of good things.”

Anton Forsberg made 22 saves in the Ottawa win.

“[Forsberg] made the saves he had to make,” Smith said. “The second [goal], I think, is tipped. [Forsberg] wins three in a row for us, so the guys are obviously playing for him. His work ethic is second to none. And we did a good job of blocking shots and clearing the front of the net as well.”

The Senators have won three straight, and improved to 7-15-1.

Damon Severson and Nathan Bastian were the goal scorers for New Jersey.

New Jersey dropped to 9-9-5.

“We have to focus on what’s ahead of us. We have to take the point,” New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff said. “Disappointed it’s only one point, but again, if you look at zone time, you look at some of the work we did … I thought we got better at trying to get dirty pucks coming off the walls, getting some bad angle shots and getting people there. And sometimes you get rewarded with bounces, and we had a couple near misses off of those. We just didn’t take advantage.”

New Jersey has lost four straight, and six of their last seven.

“We probably have to, when it’s 2-1, not make the plays we did,” Ruff said. “The puck management part again, where we put the puck, the errant pass by our defenseman, that allowed them that opportunity. It ended up biting us.

“That’s probably a game you have to win 2-1.”

Drake Batherson also scored for the Senators.

“I think we’re just maturing as a team,” Batherson said. “We’re [more than] 20 games in now. We know how to play. We’ve been successful in getting these three wins, and it’s huge for our confidence. We’re just going to keep rolling.”

Severson opened the scoring in the first period with just 35 seconds elapsed for a 1-0 lead to New Jersey.

“I think we deserved a little better tonight,” Severson said. “We played well compared to our last few. Worked hard, battled hard.”