Linus Ullmark stayed perfect and the Ottawa Senators kept rolling Monday in Newark, turning a five-defensemen finish into a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Ullmark stopped 29 shots for Ottawa, which moved to 5-1-0, while Tim Stutzle supplied a goal and an assist.
Shane Pinto, Stephen Halliday and Tyler Kleven also scored for the Senators. Nico Daws made 16 saves for New Jersey, and Arseny Gritsyuk provided the Devils’ only goal.
Ottawa’s fifth victory in its first six games matched a rare start in franchise history. The Senators had previously reached five wins in six games or fewer in 2007-08 and 2005-06, opening both of those seasons at 5-0-0.
After the horn
Pinto broke through almost immediately after the first intermission. Just nine seconds into the second period, Michael Amadio fed him from the left circle and Pinto snapped a shot from the slot past Daws for a 1-0 lead.
The Senators doubled the margin on the power play at 8:40 of the middle frame. Devils defenseman Brett Pesce lost an edge and went down, leaving Stutzle room to spot Halliday open between the circles. Halliday finished the chance for his goal.
Ottawa had to work through a long early test after Anthony Mantha received a five-minute major for boarding Senators defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo at 10:01 of the first period. New Jersey came up empty on the extended advantage, but Matinpalo suffered an upper-body injury and did not return. The Senators played the rest of the night with five defensemen.
Stutzle put the game further out of reach at 11:10 of the third. Thomas Chabot fired from the point, and Stutzle redirected the puck from the slot to make it 3-0.
New Jersey briefly thought it had an answer less than a minute later when Jesper Boqvist scored at 11:58, but Ottawa challenged the sequence for goaltender interference. The call was overturned, preserving the shutout at that point.
Gritsyuk finally beat Ullmark at 14:59, wiring a wrist shot from between the circles to pull the Devils within two. Kleven sealed the result with an empty-netter at 17:53.
Ullmark improved to 5-0-0 and has surrendered only six goals through his first five appearances. The Devils, coming off a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, fell to 2-3-0.
