Senators use quick goals to help hand Devils seventh straight loss

Connor Brown had a goal and an assist, and the Ottawa Senators handed the New Jersey Devils their seventh straight loss with a 4-1 win at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Monday.

Brown, who missed 10 games with a broken jaw, scored on a rebound at 11:58 of the third period 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," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said.
Nicholas Paul also had a goal and an assist for the Senators (15-22-4), who are 4-2-2 in their past eight games. Matt Murray made 32 saves and is 5-0-2 in his past seven games after beginning the season 0-6-0.
"I think [Murray's] the reason we won that game," Ottawa defenseman 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, and Nico Daws made 20 saves for the Devils (15-26-5), who were playing without Jack Hughes after the forward entered NHL COVID-19 protocol on Sunday.
"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."
The Devils have been outscored 30-12 during the losing streak.
"We didn't give up a lot for 40 minutes, but we left some chances out there," New Jersey 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."
Hischier redirected a pass from Jesper Bratt on the power play to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at 11:48 of the first period.
"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."
Paul took a centering pass from Brown to tie it 1-1 at 16:51.
"He fed me pretty nice there," Paul said. "Two guys coming at him, he slips it through their legs, finds me in the middle. I like when he gives me the puck, and I like when it goes in the back of the net. He's a great player, he's got great vision, and it's huge for our team to have him back in the lineup."

Holden scored through a screen to make it 2-1 at 7:54 of the second period. Mark Kastelic provided the screen and got his first NHL point with the secondary assist.
Nine seconds later, Adam Gaudette elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 and scored short side with a wrist shot to make it 3-1.
"He's powering through on face-offs, he's getting to the front of the net," 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."
NOTES: Ruff returned after missing two games following the death of his father, Leeson, on Jan. 28. … New Jersey defenseman P.K. Subban had one hit and two blocks in 18:41 of ice time in his 800th NHL game. … Ottawa defenseman Nikita Zaitsev had three hits and two blocked shots in 18:54 after missing 13 games with a heel injury. … Senators forward Dylan Gambrell had three shots and three hits in 13:26 after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … Holden has goals in consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 27-Dec. 29, 2016, with the New York Rangers. … The goals scored nine seconds apart by Holden and Paul is tied for fifth fastest in Ottawa history. The fastest is four seconds, set by Vladislav Namestnikov and Jean-Gabriel Pageau on Nov. 9, 2019.