Red-hot Devils beat Senators for 12th straight win

OTTAWA, Ontario — Akira Schmid made 25 saves as the New Jersey Devils beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Saturday for their 12th straight win.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian, Jesper Boqvist, Yegor Sharangovich and Michael McLeod scored for New Jersey (15-3-0).

Ottawa (6-10-1) continued to struggle, having won only twice in its last 11 games (2-8-1). Near the end of the game, there was a faint chant of “Fire DJ!” DJ Smith is the head coach.

“Overall, we were disappointed with the way we played,” Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. “We just weren’t ready to play from the start.

“For us, as players, it’s a Saturday afternoon, it’s close to the sale, so it’s on us. It’s up to us not to prepare. It’s up to me. not helping my squad prepare so I’m going to take responsibility for that and there were times tonight where we played solid, played our game, but it wasn’t enough.

Derick Brassard scored for the Senators. Anton Forsberg started the game but was pulled early in the second period after allowing third goal on 18 shots. Cam Talbot finished the game allowing one goal on 17 shots.

Haula opened the scoring with a power play goal early in the first period for his first of the season. Bastian made it 2-0 late in the first, jumping on a rebound up front.

The Devils didn’t let go, making it 3-0 early in the second when Boqvist managed to get the puck up front, ending Forsberg’s afternoon.

“I thought tonight was a total team game,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “We got the production, we got a key shorthanded goal from (Yegor) Sharangovich, but all four lines were in. I think our defense played well and again our goaltender made some big saves at key times.

Brassard put the Senators on the board late in the period, but the Devils came right back, scoring a shorthanded goal with 34 seconds left in the period.

Ottawa retired the goaltender with 4:51 left in the third, but the Devils made them pay with McLeod scoring an empty-netter.

“We were just resilient,” Haula said. “There were a few holes in our game I thought where we were a little bit comfortable and that’s when they kind of took it from us and had a few chances, but in the Overall, good for Schmid, great game from him, and 12 in a row, we have to feel good about this one.