Ottawa Senators make regulation comeback but New Jersey Devils topple in shootout 5-4 -NHL Update
It was an intense matchup between Ottawa and New Jersey on Thursday, December 8, 2011, as Jesse Winchester made the equaliser to force overtime with five seconds remaining in the third period shorthanded, but the Devils countered in the shootout decider
to topple Senators, 5-4, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
Coming out with one of their best records in the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season after the month of November, Ottawa has failed yet again to show any compulsion towards winning have had lost four of their five contests.
The Senators are however, still above the Devils in terms of ranking in the Eastern Conference with 30 points, while New Jersey sits in 10th place with 29.
"It was one of those nights over a long season where you don't ask how, but how many," New Jersey Devils head coach, Peter DeBoer, said after the matchup. "I think that's the way we have to approach it, and obviously get better the next game."
Milan Michalek scored his 18th of the regular season 6:31 into the opening period followed by Nick Foligno to extend the lead by finally reaching double figures in his scoring with his 10th nearly 10 minutes later.
Ottawa Senators captain, Daniel Alfredsson, added the visitor’s third straight goal nearly midway through the second period on a 5-on-3 man advantage as Mattias Tedenby and Petr Sykora were booked less than a minute apart for various penalties.
New Jersey captain, Zach Parise, added his first of the night and finally put the Devils on the scoreboard while they were shorthanded with Nick Palmieri sitting on the bench as the team was served with a too many men on the ice penalty.
The Devils managed to continue the momentum and fired off three straight to take the lead as Dainius Zubrus potted a shorthanded while Mattias Tedenby and Ilya Kovalchuk scored less than a minute apart.
With five seconds remaining, Ottawa barely held on as Jess Winchester made a miraculous goal shorthanded and levelled the contest to force an uncertain overtime but all the hard work was lost as New Jersey managed to pot three out of four shootout attempts
to take the match.
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