Devils hold off Senators, end 3-game losing streak

OTTAWA -- Brendan Smith had a goal and two assists, and the New Jersey Devils held on to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

“They definitely had a great push and we tried to hold [on],” New Jersey captain Nico Hischier said. “At the end it was a little bit ugly, but we got it done, so that was good."

Hischier, Ondrej Palat and Erik Haula scored, Jesper Bratt had two assists, and Jake Allen made 25 saves for the Devils (37-36-4), who had lost three straight.

The Devils are five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

“The whole game he played great,” Palat said of Allen. “He made some huge saves and the last 10 minutes we didn’t play great, but he was there for us to make some key saves.”

Claude Giroux and Jake Sanderson each had a goal and an assist, Brady Tkachuk scored, and Drake Batherson had two assists for the Senators (33-39-4), who have lost three in a row and were eliminated from playoff contention.

Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves in relief of Anton Forsberg, who was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots.

“The third period, it felt like that was probably our best period all year,” Tkachuk said. “We just did the little things right, put it behind them, got physical and a lot of guys stepped up. Hit a post, a couple of chances that could’ve gone in and just the goalie made some big saves or there were big blocks by their team. Tough result, but proud of the pushback and the effort that we had there.”

Tkachuk set a Senators record with 16 hits, one behind Zdeno Chara’s NHL record of 17 set on Nov. 3, 1999, with the New York Islanders.

“He’s the best power forward in the NHL,” Sanderson said of Tkachuk. “When he goes out and does that and puts the team on his back to claw back, it’s impressive. We follow him every night.”

Haula gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 3:50 of the first period when he took a seam pass from Jack Hughes on the rush and beat Forsberg blocker side with a quick wrist shot. It was his first goal in 11 games.

Palat tipped in Luke Hughes' point shot to make it 2-0 at 12:36.

Smith pushed it to 3-0 at 16:34 with slap shot from the point. It was his second straight game with a goal.

Sanderson scored 33 seconds into the second period with a wrist shot from the point on a power play to cut it to 3-1.

Hischier responded to make it 4-1 at 11:04, scoring off a centering pass from Bratt. Smith had the secondary assist on the play for his first three-point game in his 13 NHL seasons.

“That’s big, obviously I hadn’t had a three-point night,” Smith said. “The puck found its way in the net, they don’t normally do that, so for me it was great. Guys were able to find me. … And I’ll take it because they don’t come very often for me.”

Giroux cut it to 4-2 at 3:37 of the third period with a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle that beat Allen blocker side on a power play.

“I thought the team in the third period played really well,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “I thought that we were smarter as far as getting pucks behind their [defense] and putting pressure on, forechecking and getting some shots. Like, the second period we had five shots. You can’t score if you don’t shoot.”

Jack Hughes lost control of the puck on a penalty shot at 4:19.

“When they scored a couple, we got a little nervous,” Palat said. “We were not that confident with the puck, but we held on to the lead and that’s important for us.”

Tkachuk got the Senators to within 4-3 at 14:17, beating Allen glove side with a wrist shot on a partial breakaway.

“I thought we got a little panicky when Tkachuk scored his goal,” Devils coach Travis Green said. “It was an unfortunate play in the offensive zone when we miss the net and then they score. You could feel it on the bench a little bit. We tried to tell the guys to take a breath, but sometimes you’ve just got to go through with it.”

Shane Pinto hit the post with three seconds left and the Senators' net empty.

“I’m impressed with them. They never quit and kept coming, and it made for a great game,” Smith said. “… But I thought we did a good job of closing out, and obviously Jake closed the door, and we were able to sneak out a win there.”

NOTES: Luke Hughes has six points (one goal, five assists) during a six-game point streak. … Sanderson has 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) this season, a career high.