Cammalleri’s Two Goals in First Propel Devils Past Sens; Move into Wild Card Spot

Stefan Matteau of the Devils looks to get the puck from Erik Karlsson of the Senators. Photo Credit: Jana Chytilova/NHLI via Getty Images

EAST HANOVER, NJ – The New Jersey Devils (19-14-5) were certainly not the better team on the ice through two and a half periods against the Ottawa Senators (18-14-6). They were outshot 36-21 and if not for the brilliant play of Corey Schneider, Wednesday’s nights affair could have had a different outcome.

As it turned out, Mike Cammalleri got New Jersey on the board in the first period on a power-play goal after a defensive zone face-off. He got his second of the game off a hard slaps shot that beat Ottawa goaltender Andrew Hammond on the blocker side. Lee Stempniak added an empty netter late in the third and the Devils beat the Senators 3-0 at the Air Tire Centre in Ottawa.

The win gives the Devils 43 points on the season, jumping them ahead of the Senators and into a tie with the idle Detroit Red Wings for a wild card spot.

The Devils took advantage of their opportunities early on as the Senators committed three penalties in just the first ten minutes of play. It did not appear that the power-play would be an asses for the visiting team as the Devils could not sustain any pressure in the oppositions zone.

Then, Cammalleri took a bouncing puck after a face-off all the way up ice. He looked for Kyle Palmieri, who was racing toward the net with him, but decided to hold the puck before finding an opening past the stick of Hammond.

Cammalleri got this 14th goal of the season after some nice forecheck work provided by his line mates Palmieri and Travis Zajac. A loose puck eventually bounced to Cammalleri who was standing all alone in the slot before finding the twine yet again to give his squad an early 2-0 edge.

From there, on out it was all Ottawa in terms of game control and sustainable pressure. Unfortunately for them, they ran into a red hot goaltender on the other end in Schneider.

He made a brilliant glove stop on Kyle Torres when the Devils were caught in a slow line change. His strongest denial came off another glove stop as Matt Stone blasted a shot from in close.

It seemed as defensemen Erik Karlsson and Mike Hoffman had countless point shots for the Senators, wether on the power-play or at even strength. Schneider ate up all of those tries and earned his third shutout of the season.

The Devils were one for four on the man advantage and held the Senators scoreless on their four chances up a skater.

For the Devils, it was their first win in back to back games since mid November (12th-14th) when they beat the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins. They will look to make it three in a row when they play host to the Dallas Stars this Saturday at 7 p.m.