Mike Condon, Senators blank Devils

NEWARK, N.J. -- Goaltender Mike Condon made 21 saves for his fifth shutout of the season to help give the Ottawa Senators a 3-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday.
Defensemen Dion Phaneuf and Erik Karlsson and forward Kyle Turris scored for the Senators (30-19-6). Ottawa is second in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, four points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who have played three more games.
"We need to take care of ourselves and not focus on what other teams are doing," Karlsson said. "I feel we've done a good job to put ourselves in this position. We're happy where we are, but we're here to win games. At the end of the day, as long as we do our job we should be pretty satisfied."

WATCH: All Devils vs. Senators highlights
Condon got his sixth career NHL shutout and first since making 31 saves in a 3-0 win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 24.
"My whole career I've taken pride in having good goalie relationships no matter who's playing," Condon said. "It's all about success. When [Craig Anderson] is in there, he has my support and when I'm in there he's telling me things that he sees from the bench. He's been playing phenomenal all year, and we have a good thing going right now so we just have to keep it rolling."

Condon and Anderson have combined for nine shutouts this season.
Phaneuf scored a power-play goal with 1:59 remaining in the second period to make it 1-0. Karlsson scored off a slap shot from the right point to give the Senators a 2-0 lead 16:02 into the third. Turris scored into an empty net with 1:37 remaining.
Schneider made 32 saves for the Devils (24-23-10), who are five points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"We knew we were going to have to be patient," Schneider said. "You have to execute and you have to come with speed to beat their trap. I thought for the most part we did the right things in the first two periods and then in the third they just squeezed us a little harder. We weren't able to execute quite as well and get in and get some sustained shots on offense."
The Senators outshot the Devils 12-6 in the third period.
"Both teams were kind of feeling each other out, maybe playing a little bit overly cautious and we found a way to continue to push and get better throughout the game," Phaneuf said. "We kind of took over. We talked about putting more pucks on their net and once we started doing that, momentum turned."

Goal of the game

Phaneuf scored his third goal in four games off a slap shot from the top of left circle.
"[Zack Smith] got in front of the net on the screen and that was big," Phaneuf said. "He crossed in front of [Schneider] and took his eyes away."

Saves of the game

Condon made three saves in rapid succession midway through the second period. After stopping a shot from the point by Andy Greene at 10:56, Condon denied rebound attempts by Miles Wood and Jacob Josefson.

Unsung performance of the game

Smith led the Senators with five shots on goal, had an assist and won 7-of-11 faceoffs in 17:48.

They said it

"Teams know how we play; we clog the neutral zone and live off of turnovers, turning the puck over and then counter attack. When we do that we don't give up a lot. We want to stay to our structure and when we do the odds are in our favor." -- Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf
"It's a tough team to beat on any night. I think we try to do the best to play the same way where it makes it really hard for teams to get through us and have an easy game. There wasn't enough tonight to get two points." -- Devils forward Kyle Palmieri
"I got the puck for him and that'll be special. He'll have this memory for a long time. It's not easy for goalie dads to be out there watching their kids play. I can't even imagine what it's like." -- Senators goalie Mike Condon on his father, Ted, being in attendance for his shutout

Need to know

Senators center Curtis Lazar was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for four straight games. ... Devils forward Beau Bennett returned to the lineup after missing nine games because of a left ankle injury.

What's next

Senators: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)
Devils: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, MSG+, NHL.TV)