Spezza, Sens Aim To Hand Devils First Road Loss Of Season
(Sports Network) - It took a while for Jason Spezza to get his first goal of the season. The Senators hope the next few can come a lot quicker.Ottawa shoots for back-to-back victories tonight, when it continues a four- game homestand at Scotiabank Place versus the New Jersey Devils, who will try to post the second-longest road winning streak to open a season in NHL history. The Senators overcame a pair of third-period disallowed goals in Thursday's 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay thanks to Spezza's overtime tally, his first of the season. The three-time 30-goal scorer also assisted on regulation tallies by Daniel Alfredsson and Mike Fisher. "I guess I don't have to answer questions about not scoring," said Spezza, who had missed the last two games due to back pain. "I felt pretty good about my game; I just wasn't getting many bounces." Pascal Leclaire made 18 saves in the victory. Ottawa had lost four of its previous five (1-2-2) prior to Thursday's win, and improved to 4-2-2 as the host this season. The club wraps its residency on Tuesday versus Edmonton. New Jersey hits the road after notching a 2-1 home victory over the Islanders last night. Making his second start of the season, Yann Danis faced his former club and stopped 23 shots in the victory. Brian Rolston scored his 100th goal in a Devils uniform and Cory Murphy also tallied in helping New Jersey win its season-high fourth straight game. Patrik Elias returned to the lineup after missing the first 13 games due to offseason groin surgery. Elias, who notched 31 goals and 78 points last year, had two shots in 16 minutes of ice time, but did not travel with the club to Ottawa. "First game, we don't want to take any chances," said head coach Jacques Lemaire on New Jersey's Web site. "He feels good, but we just want to make sure his next game, he's going to have time to rest. This was hard for him. You could tell at the end. He didn't have that same energy in the third period. I think it'll be a good decision for him to rest." Following this contest, the Devils are off until Wednesday's home test versus the Ducks. But first, New Jersey will aim to improve on its 7-0-0 mark on the road and also try to record its first five-game winning streak since an eight-game run from January 13-30 of last season. New Jersey has matched the second-longest road winning streak to begin a season. Buffalo holds the record with 10 road victories to begin 2006-07. The Devils have won six straight over the Senators, including all four meetings last year, and nine of the last 11 in the series. New Jersey has won three straight and five of seven in Ottawa.
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