Senators right wing Alex DeBrincat, 12, watches a shot in front of New Jersey Devils goaltender Akira Schmid in the second period of their game Saturday in Ottawa, Ontario. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP
OTTAWA, Ontario — Akira Schmid made 25 saves and the New Jersey Devils beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Saturday for their 12th straight victory.
Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian, Jesper Boqvist, Yegor Sharangovich and Michael McLeod scored for New Jersey (15-3-0).
Ottawa (6-10-1) continued to struggle, having won just twice in its last 11 games (2-8-1). Late in the game, there was a faint chant of “Fire D.J.!” D.J. Smith is the head coach.
Derick Brassard scored for the Senators. Anton Forsberg started the game but was pulled early in the second period after allowing the third goal on 18 shots. Cam Talbot finished the game allowing one goal on 17 shots.
Haula opened the scoring with a power-play goal early in the first period for his first of the season. Bastian made it 2-0 late in the first, jumping on a rebound out front.
The Devils didn’t let up, making it 3-0 early in the second when Boqvist was able to grab a puck out front, putting an end to Forsberg’s afternoon.
Brassard got the Senators on the board late in the period, but the Devils came right back, scoring a shorthanded goal with 34 seconds remaining in the period.
Ottawa pulled the goalie with 4:51 remaining in the third, but the Devils made them pay for it with McLeod scoring an empty-net goal.
FLAMES 5, PANTHERS 4: Rasmus Andersson scored in the fifth round of the shootout to lead visiting Calgary over Florida in a matchup of teams that made a major trade last summer.
Adam Ruzicka had two goals and an assist for Calgary. Nikita Zadorov and Blake Coleman also scored.
Florida got goals from Colin White, Sam Reinhart, Eetu Luostarinen and Matthew Tkachuk.
Tkachuk spent six seasons with the Flames before going to Florida in a trade for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar on July 22.
RED WINGS 6, BLUE JACKETS 1: Filip Hronek scored twice in the second period, and Detroit beat Columbus for its second straight road win.
Dylan Larkin had a goal and two assists, and Ben Chiarot, Dominik Kubalik and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for Detroit. Moritz Seider had three assists, and Lucas Raymond and Andrew Copp each had two. Ville Husso stopped 26 shots.
Emil Bemstrom scored for Columbus, and Joonas Korpisalo had 31 saves.
AVALANCHE 4, WASHINGTON 0: Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon scored, Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves and defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado won in Washington for its second consecutive victory.
MacKinnon also had two assists for the Avalanche. They have won six of seven games despite missing several injured regulars, including captain Gabriel Landeskog, winger Valeri Nichushkin and defensemen Samuel Girard and Bowen Byram.
MacKinnon made the highlight of the night deking around former Colorado teammate Nicolas Aube-Kubel with a fancy move a day after lamenting, “We have half our team out right now, and we’re still finding ways to win.”
MAPLE LEAFS 5, SABRES 2: William Nylander scored twice, Matt Murray made 32 saves and host Toronto beat Buffalo for the Sabres’ eighth straight loss.
John Tavares had a goal and two assists, Calle Jarnkrok and Mark Giordano also scored and Mitch Marner had two assists to push his points streak to 12. The Maple Leafs are 6-1-2 in their last nine and 10-5-4 overall.
Alex Tuch and Casey Mittelstadt scored for Buffalo. The Sabres fell to 7-11-0. They haven’t earned a point in the standings since Nov. 2.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
