OTTAWA, Ont. – The Devils quickly rebounded from Tuesday loss with a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. Erik Haula’s deflection, Nathan Bastian’s shorthanded goal, and Paul Cotter’s third period tally helped the visitors pick up two points in Ottawa. Jacob Markstrom, in his second consecutive start, made 29 saves on 30 shots to help his team pick up the decisive win.

New Jersey had a couple of chances in the opening frame, but weren’t able to score in the first 20 minutes. The second period was a different story. New Jersey came out firing in the second period and the score quickly reflected it. 2:39 into the period, Erik Haula deflected in Johnathan Kovacevic’s shot to open the scoring. Timo Meier entered the zone and drove in which gave Kovacevic room to quickly shoot when he received a pass from Meier. From there, Haula’s deflection helped New Jersey get past Anton Forsberg.

Four minutes later, while on the penalty kill, Nathan Bastian intercepted a pass, went in on a 2-on-1 with Curtis Lazar and ripped one past Forsberg, making it 2-0 Devils. Bastian’s goal was the Devils first shorthanded goal this season. In the opening eight minutes of the middle frame the Devils had ten shots and finished the second period with 14 shots on goal. It was an overall strong effort offensively in the second period.

In the opening two minutes of the third period, the Senators were inches from scoring their first of the night when another shot rang off the post. Ottawa hit four posts throughout the game. In the final eight minutes of the third, Paul Cotter’s goal gave New Jersey at 3-0 lead heading into the final minutes of the game. In the final three minutes Simon Nemec was sent to the box for tripping and the Senators capitalized. Claude Giroux’s goal with 1:05 left in the game to made it 3-1 Devils. Despite the late goal, New Jersey held on and picked up the win.

Here are some observations from the game:

•The Devils switched things up with three of their lines, adding Meier to a line with Hischier and Mercer; Cotter with Hughes and Bratt; and Tatar with Haula and Noesen. At the end of the first, Keefe sent out Hischier with Hughes and Bratt and Noesen with Palat and Lazar. Throughout the game the Devils experimented with different defensive pairings in the second period, including putting Seamus Casey with Brenden Dillon and Simon Nemec with Jonas Siegenthaler.

•It was a matchup of top special teams units as the Senators have the third best power play and the Devils have the third best penalty kill. The Senators got on the man-advantage first; however, were held to just one shot on goal and the Devils were able to clear the puck several times and get some big saves from Markstrom. In the second, on the penalty kill, the Devils continued to disrupt the Senators power play and Bastian even scored the first shorthanded goal of the season for New Jersey. Late in the third the home team was able to secure a power play goal, their lone goal of the night. The Devils finished the night 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. New Jersey wasn’t able to score on the power play but they had good chances throughout.

The Devils return home for a two-game homestand with their next game Saturday night against the Washington Capitals.