NEWARK — The Devils thought they had some offensive traction early against the Ottawa Senators, but when shots didn’t go in and they fell behind, the offense derailed.
Only six shots found their way on goal when the Devils trailed 1-0 in the third period, all but eliminating any chance to erase a one-goal deficit before dooming them in a 3-0 defeat.
“I don’t think we did enough offensively to be strong on pucks, to get extended offensive zone time,” Devils forward Kyle Palmieri told NJ Advance Media. “You get three, four shots in a shift, you’re able to roll it over and we had a little flurry in the second there where we were buzzing around the offensive zone and had scoring chances. But after that, there wasn’t much.”
Offense silent in loss to Senators
The Devils had 15 shots through the first two periods, but once the Senators punched a power-play goal past goalie Cory Schneider just before the second intermission, the Devils had no response.
“It seems when they got that goal at the end of the second, they got a few more chances right after that and it just seemed we were never quite able to regain our footing,” Schneider said. “That’s not how we want to finish a game, we want to push and tie it up.”
Devils coach John Hynes said the Devils were doing the right things to break through the neutral zone and get some chances through the first 40 minutes, but that game plan was abandoned far too early in the third period.
“We had no problem getting through it the first two periods. We didn’t stick with it long enough,” Hynes said. “We got frustrated, and they defend in a good way.”
The Devils were in the game until the final four minutes when the Senators added an Erik Karlsson goal plus an empty netter to seal the win.
Even without those finishing goals, the Devils didn’t do anything to close even the smallest gap on the scoreboard.
“We didn’t spend that much time in their zone, we didn’t have that many shots,” Devils forward Zacha said. “We can’t win like that.”
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Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.
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