Hischier’s OT Goal Gives Devils 8th Straight Win

First Period

Both top lines started the game, with Giroux winning the opening faceoff. An early icing 16 seconds in stopped play. 1:52 into the game we had our first penalty, Smith for interference. It looked pretty accidental to me.

The Devils opened up a bad passing lane for the Sens and they almost scored. The Sens had 2 more chances but fanned both times. At the end of the power play, Bastian blocked a shot and the Devils cleared. Ottawa had no shots on goal.

After the power play, there was traffic in front and Vanecek was pushed into his own net.

Hughes took the puck the other way and the Devils cycled in the offensive zone. Siegenthaler got hammered against the boards but the Devils kept possession. Tatar shot the puck and it went of Kelly’s leg and in. 1-0 Devils.

Hischier stole the puck in the Sens zone and forced his way to the net but Forsberg made the save.

Hughes centered for Haula and Forsberg got the pad over, robbing Haula of his first Devils goal.

Sanderson had a chance with Vanecek out of position but fanned on the shot with Hischier ready to block

Smith got called for holding

Siegenthaler was taken down in the corner. Giroux had a shot pass to Pinto from the point and he redirected it past Vanecek to tie the game.

Tatar had another chance but Forsberg made the save

The Sens went into the Devils goal and Hamonic blasted a slapper for the Sens second goal in about a minute.

Wood crashed the net and Forsberh made a great save to stop it.

The Senators then got a 4 on 1 and Vanecek stopped Brassard.

Zetterlund was accidentally taken down by Stutzle in the neutral zone and a penalty was called. Even from the first Smith penalty.

Ottawa cleared the zone off the faceoff. Hughes gained the zone and promptly passed the puck to a Senator.

The Devils had no great chances, but the puck was in the Senators zone for so long none of the players on the ice could move until the puck went out of play.

Marino had 2 great chances after the power play but neither went in.

Haula got hit hard against the boards and was slow getting up.

Hischier and Zetterlund had a 2 on 1 and Hischier ripped a wrister under the glove of Forsberg, tie game.

Second Period

The third line centered by Mercer had a good shift spent almost entirely in the OZ, with defensemen pinching and several SOG.

The 4th line had the next shift and Bastian centered from the corner to McLeod. The puck bounced off a Senator and onto Wood’s stick who slammed it in to give the Devils the lead again.

The first line had the shift after than and Hischier and Tatar played catch until Hischier shot it, and Forsberg managed to get over and make a nice save.

Hughes got a pass from Hamilton on the right for a shot. The rebound came right out to Haula for a near goal but Hamonic blocked it just in time. Poor Haula.

Every Devils line has just been rolling in the second period. 10 shots in the first 7 minutes of the period.

A couple players got tangled up with about 10:30 left in the period, but there were no calls.

Ottawa has had a couple blasts from the point in this period but nothing closer.

Haula got a rebound but his body was at an awkward angle. Another rebound came to him but it hopped over his stick. He can’t buy a goal.

Chabot ran into Vanecek hard and he went down for a while. Schmid started to warm up, but Vanecek stayed in.

Bratt had a one timer on the power play for the first good shot on goal but it was right as Forsberg’s stomach.

Zetterlund blasted a one timer, but again right at Forsberg’s stomach.

Mathieu Joseph made a smart play to high stick a puck down to prevent a Bratt breakaway.

With less than a minute left Tatar almost knocked a centering pass in but Forsberg stopped it.

In the final 10 seconds there was a mad scramble for the puck and a collision but in the end, there were no penalties or goals.

3rd Period

It seemed like not too much was happening to start the period, but suddenly Pinto drove to the center of the ice and fired a wrister top shelf to tie the game at 3.

The Senators had possession for the next shift

4 minutes in to the period, Hughes got called for goaltending interference. Devils to the kill.

The Devils killed off the penalty, including a few seconds where Haula and Marino had possession and a shot shorthanded.

The puck took an awkward bounce in front of Vanecek. As Spaulding said, there’s been a few of those in this game.

Shots are 34-16 Devils.

Ottawa has had more control of the game since the Pinto goal.

The Hischier line pinned the Senators in their zone for a while and the Senators iced the puck, but the Devils couldn’t take advantage and the game remained tied.

During the next commercial break, Vanecek went down the tunnel and Schmid came in to the game.

Boqvist set up Sharangovich who hit the post

A fluttering shot from the point hit the post behind Schmid

There was some pushing and shoving after the next stoppage after Graves cross checked Giroux and got away with it.

The Hischier and Hughes lines pinned Ottawa in their zone. Tatar nearly had his second but Bernard-Docker blocked it with his stick.

Hughes danced around with just over 2 minutes to go and flipped a backhander towards the net with traffic in front but it didn’t go.

Mercer went flying up ice and got his own rebound but couldn’t put it home

Game tied after 60 minutes, to overtime we go.

Overtime

Hischier, Sharangovich, and Hamilton started OT. Hischier won the draw against Giroux and he hit the post with his first shot.

Ottawa got their first puck touch after a Bratt shot went wide. Tkachuk went the other way and was stopped by Schmid, but Marino was called for slashing. A bit weak for a call in OT, but it was a slash.

Ottawa called their timeout.

Hischier, Graves, and Siegenthaler started the kill. 75% of Devils on the ice are from Switzerland.

Schmid made a save on a Giroux one-timer and held it for a whistle. Smith, Haula, and Hamilton were up next. Haula broke his stick blocking a slapshot. Schmid made a fantastic save on Tkachuk, and then another one a moment later.

Hughes went the other way and got Forsberg to stop play. On the next play Hughes was taken down by Chabot racing for the puck, giving the Devils a power play.

Hischier, Hughes, Hamilton, and Zetterlund were the power play unit.

Off the faceoff the Devils set up and Hughes sent the puck back to Hamilton who had drifted in a couple steps from point and he blasted a slapshot that went off Hischier and past Forsberg for the Devils 8th straight win.

Final Thoughts

This was a good game for the Devils. After two games where they were maybe outplayed a bit by the Flames they dominated the Sens in shots, 41 to 28.

Erik Haula, poor guy just can’t buy a goal. He had several more golden chances tonight and just got stonewalled. He’ll get one eventually but right now his luck is just awful.

Vanecek was crashed into and later took himself out of the game, so I hope he’s ok. Schmid came in and made all 7 stops, including some great ones to keep the Devils alive in overtime. That gives him his first NHL win, so congratulations to Akira.

Marino had a good game after a couple not so good ones. He was great in the first 10 or so games before having a couple rough ones, but this was a nice bounce back for him. He ended up getting an assist and 5 SOG.

Overall this was a good game for the Devils, the PK in OT was huge after going 2 for 4 against Calgary in the last game. Hischier had 2 goals, Hughes 2 assists and some flashes of brilliant play. 8 in a row, LGD