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Last season, the Devils wasted plenty of leads. Now, even if they lose one, the Devils are fighting back.
Jesper Bratt and Drew Stafford scored in the shootout, goalie Keith Kinkaid made a big stop at the end and the Devils beat the Senators 5-4 Friday night at Prudential Center in Newark after blowing a two-goal lead in the final 1:15 of regulation.
“I think last year at the end of the year we were finding ways to lose games, and it’s that extra inch, extra play,” Devils forward Taylor Hall said after his team improved to 7-2. “Stafford, we’re dead in the water in that shootout and he goes out and scores a big goal for us and keeps us alive. Keith can shut the door, so little things throughout the year you can pinpoint that maybe we’re a different team than last year.”
With the Senators leading 1-0 in the shootout on Tom Pyatt’s goal, Stafford kept the Devils in it by netting a backhand on their third shootout chance.
After defenseman Erik Karlsson missed the net on the Senators’ third chance, Bratt totally faked out Mike Condon on the fourth attempt for the game-winner.
“I try to do a little bit of a shoulder fake, to make the goalie believe I was going to take a shot, so then I just go backhand,” Bratt said. “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.”
Condon said the moves by Stafford and Bratt were good ones.
“I guess I bit a little bit too hard on the first move,” Condon said of Bratt’s goal. “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.”
Kinkaid stopped Mike Hoffman on the Senators’ last try to give the Devils their second win over the Senators this season. In the first one, the Devils rallied from two goals down and won in overtime.
Jimmy Hayes, Adam Henrique, Brian Gibbons and Damon Severson scored for the Devils, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit with four straight goals.