Bratt, Devils defeat Senators in shootout

NEWARK, N.J. -- Drew Stafford and Jesper Bratt scored in a shootout to help the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 win against the Ottawa Senators at Prudential Center on Friday.

Stafford scored in the third round and Bratt in the fourth. Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid stopped a backhand shot by Mike Hoffman to end it.
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Devils highlights]
Bratt skated down the middle of the ice and gave Senators goalie Mike Condon a shoulder fake before scoring with a backhand into an open net.
"I wanted to make the goalie believe I was going to take a shot, so then I just went backhand," said Bratt, a rookie forward. "All the players have something that they work a little extra on, so when it comes to a shootout you know exactly what you're going to do. [Coach John Hynes] said to me, 'You go', so I went on the ice.
"I just wanted to go out there and do my thing and I felt pretty comfortable with what I was going to do. It was pretty easy."
Jimmy Hayes, Adam Henrique, Brian Gibbons and Damon Severson scored, Pavel Zacha had two assists, and Kinkaid made 23 saves for the Devils (7-2-0). Hoffman, Johnny Oduya, Mark Stone and Christopher DiDomenico scored, and Condon made 21 saves for the Senators (5-1-5). Tom Pyatt scored in the second round of the shootout.

"I guess I bit a little bit too hard on [Bratt's] first move (in the shootout)," Condon said. "That's the NHL. Everyone has three or four moves. If you don't bite on the first one, he shoots it through you and if you do, he goes around you."
The Senators scored two goals with Condon pulled for the extra attacker late in the third period to send it into overtime. Stone scored with 1:15 left before DiDomenico banked a shot off Kinkaid with 37 seconds remaining for his first NHL goal.
"In those final two minutes, you have to find a way to ice the game," Devils forward Taylor Hall said. "There's lots of stuff we can keep improving on for this season. It's about gaining steam and fixing things that you think you can do better. Certainly, those last two minutes, we got to clamp it down a little bit."
Gibbons gave the Devils their first lead of the game, 3-2, off a snap shot from the top of the left circle with 1:53 left in the second period. Severson scored 14:10 into the third to make it 4-2.

The Devils tied the game 2-2 when Henrique scored a power-play goal off a rebound 10:52 into the second. It was the first power-play goal allowed by the Senators on the road in 12 chances.
Hayes scored his second of the season 18:12 into the first period off a snap shot from the left circle that beat Condon over his left shoulder to pull the Devils within 2-1. Zacha set it up when he took the puck in his own end and skated the length of the ice before passing to Hayes.
Hoffman gave the Senators a 1-0 lead in the first period at 7:58 before Oduya extended the lead to 2-0 off a slap shot at 17:14.

Goal of the game

Bratt's deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout.

Save of the game

Kinkaid lost his stick but stopped Erik Karlsson with 15 seconds remaining in overtime.

Highlight of the game

DiDomenico's goal with 37 seconds remaining in the third.

They said it

"We did a good job of coming back and getting that one point. We had a few chances to end it and get that second one but it didn't happen for us. Over the past two games, we didn't play any beautiful hockey for all of it, but we did enough to get away with three of four points, and that's the good part." -- Senators captain Erik Karlsson
"[Kinkaid] is a guy that comes to play every night when he gets a chance. I think he's motivated by the fact that he wants to get more games and more minutes and right now it's looking like he deserves it, so it's fun to rally around that guy and to see him make the saves he does." -- Devils forward Taylor Hall

Need to know

Senators forward Zack Smith returned to the lineup after missing the past three games with an upper-body injury and had one assist in 17:18 of ice time. ... Karlsson, who has nine assists in six games, played a game-high 27:42. ... Devils center Nico Hischier, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, shot a backhand over the net on the first shootout attempt of his NHL career. ... Devils defenseman Will Butcher had an assist and leads NHL rookies with 10.

What's next

Senators: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Devils: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)