After losing five straight, the Ottawa Senators knew this Thursday/Friday back to back in Philadelphia and New Jersey would be two of their biggest games of the season.
Jean Gabriel Pageau registered his first in the NHL, Milan Michalek scored in his first game back and Craig Anderson stopped all 33 shots he faced as the Senators picked up a huge 2-0 win on Friday night and all but eliminated the New Jersey Devils from playoff contention.
Playing their second game in as many nights, you could tell that the Senators were a tired hockey team.
The Devils finished the game with a 33-11 edge in shots and dominated for large stretch of this game. But Craig Anderson had his best start since returning from that high ankle sprain and kept the Jersey offence at bay. The 11 shots ties the franchise record for least shots in a game.
It certainly wasn't pretty but for Ottawa to beat a team in regulation that is just behind them in the standings is a huge boost to their playoff chances. The Sens now have 48 points and are four points clear of the Winnipeg Jets with a game in hand.
After a fairly quiet opening period where New Jersey held a 9-3 advantage on the shot clock, the Senators got on the board early in the second. Jean Gabriel Pageau tipped home a Colin Greening shot for his first goal in the National Hockey League. Pageau is the 7th Senator to score his first career goal this season. A little over three minutes later, Alfredsson and Michalek broke in on a 2 on 0 that was finished off by Michalek. Awesome to see Michalek back and contributing.
The Sens would carry that 2-0 lead into the third period despite only registering 9 shots in the first 40 minutes.
In the third period, a desperate Devils team continued to carry the play but Craig Anderson stood tall in the Ottawa goal. The Sens registered just two shots on goal over the final 20 minutes but their defence core did a good job limiting the second and third chances and and made life pretty easy for Anderson.
The Senators close out this road trip on Monday night in Boston and will return home to play the Carolina Hurricanes the following night.
