Senators surge past Devils, end 3-game skid

NEWARK, N.J. -- Thomas Chabot and Mathieu Joseph each had a goal and an assist for the Ottawa Senators in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Saturday.

"The game we played tonight should be our standard for the way we want to play," Chabot said. "We've been seeing it at times this season, but for some reason, we kind of get away from that. When we do play this way, I think we can obviously play against any good team and any team in the League."

Brady Tkachuk had two assists, and Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves for the Senators (29-36-4), who had lost their previous three games.

"I thought we played the right way, used the whole bench and thought our penalty-killing did a great job against their power play ... so it was a real good effort," Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said.

Jake Allen made 20 saves in his fourth straight start for the Devils (34-33-4), who remained six points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"We didn't play well at all," New Jersey interim coach Travis Green said. "Everything I said the other night that I liked (in a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday), we did the opposite. It didn't look like our team was ready for their speed. When you're not making two passes in a row, it's pretty hard to get any traction."

The Devils went 0-for-4 on the power play and had 13 giveaways.

"We had a couple of turnovers we'd like to have back," Green said. "The turnovers were part of it. Individually, we did not play up to our capabilities."

Joseph gave the Senators a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 4:56 of the first period. Joseph took advantage of a turnover at the Ottawa blue line and scored on a breakaway with a snap shot that went off of Allen's pad.

Jesper Bratt made it 1-1 for the Devils on a breakaway 23 seconds into the second period.

Tomas Nosek gave New Jersey a 2-1 lead 36 seconds later on a snap shot from the left face-off circle.

"We bounced back at the start of the second, then we were not executing," Nosek said. "A lot of bad plays, bad passes. We need to dig deep, and everybody needs to play better tomorrow (at the New York Islanders)."

Ottawa then scored three goals on four shots in 4:55 for a 4-2 lead.

"We didn't panic after those two quick goals in the second, and [Korpisalo] was solid, the penalty kill was solid and in general, I think we managed the puck well," Joseph said. "We kept our composure, stayed calm on the bench, and we found a way to keep going and get the lead."

Ridly Greig tied it 2-2 on a wrist shot from the slot at 4:06, and Angus Crookshank, playing his first game since Jan. 4, scored on a one-timer from the right circle for a 3-2 lead at 6:02.

"I scored a couple times like that (in the American Hockey League), but it's just one of those shots where you don't really feel the puck off the blade, and normally, those kinds of shots have a funny way of finding the back of the net," Crookshank said.

Chabot pushed it to 4-2 at 9:01 on a snap shot at the left post after a pass from Tkachuk.

"I think up two goals, we knew they were going to come and some of their top guys were going to try and cheat a little bit behind us," Chabot said. "I think everybody did a great job keeping the player in front of them, not forcing anything, and obviously, that led to a lot more scoring chances."

Drake Batherson went top shelf on a backhand from the slot at 10:15 of the third period for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: The Senators scored five goals on the road for the fifth time this season. They've scored more goals as the visiting team once (6-3 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 8). ... The goals by Bratt and Nosek were the fifth-fastest to start a period in Devils franchise history. ... New Jersey defenseman John Marino played 20:44 in his return after missing two games with an upper-body injury.