As the afternoon moved along, and with the Ottawa Senators starved for offence, it looked like it just wasn't going to be their afternoon.
That was until the Sens Captain stepped up. Alfredsson put a backhand underneath the bar that tied the game at 1-1. That was the way it stayed until the shootout where Jakob Silfverberg picked apart the veteran Martin Brodeur and gave the Sens a huge two points.
Life without Karlsson and Spezza is going to be a grind.
The Ottawa Senators are going to have to work for every goal then score and play strong defensively along the way. That is exactly what they were able to do this afternoon in New Jersey.
And even with Anderson taking the afternoon off, the Senators continue to get excellent goaltending, this time from Ben Bishop. He was beat early on by Stephen Gionta but completely shut the door from that point on, giving the Sens a chance to come away with a couple points.
Bishop was strong in the shootout as well, outwaiting the first two Devils shooters and then looking on as former-Senator Bobby Butler missed the net by a foot and a half with the game on the line. Jakob Silverberg scored the lone goal for the Senators, surprising Brodeur with a wicked wrist shot that beat the Devils goaltender high to the glovehand side.
Sergei Gonchar led all Sens in ice time logging 27:10 and was strong on the back end. Alfredsson led all forwards, logging a season high 24:02.
A masterpiece it was not, but a huge two points for the Senators.
Quick turnaround for MacLean's group as they are back at it tomorrow night against John Tavares and the New York Islanders.
