Linus Ullmark continued his early-season dominance to carry the Ottawa Senators to their third consecutive victory with a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils Monday night in Newark, N.J.
Ullmark impressed with 29 saves to lift his record to a perfect 5-0-0 to start the season.
Tim Stutzle scored and picked up an assist, while Shane Pinto, Stephen Halliday and Tyler Kleven also lit the lamp for the Senators.
Arseny Gritsyuk tallied the Devils’ lone goal and Nico Daws finished with 16 saves in the losing effort.
The Devils’ physical play in the early going finally caught up to them as Anthony Mantha delivered a dangerous check on Nikolas Matinpalo that drew a five-minute major just over halfway through the opening frame.
Matinpalo was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the contest with an upper-body injury.
Fabian Zetterlund had the Senators’ only real chance to score during their extended man advantage, but Daws slid across to deny the one-timer opportunity.
Ottawa started the second period off with a bang as Pinto found the back of the net just nine seconds in to give the Senators the 1-0 lead.
Michael Amadio picked up a pass from Claude Giroux and relayed it over to Pinto for his first goal of the season.
After failing to convert on their first four opportunities, the Senators finally found some power-play success as Stutzle spotted Halliday open in front of the net to double up the lead with 11:20 remaining in the second.
Stutzle picked up his 10th point of the season when he tipped Thomas Chabot’s point shot past Daws to make it 3-0 with 8:50 left in the contest.
The Devils thought they finally got one past Ullmark less than a minute later, but it was ruled that Cody Glass illegally poked it loose from underneath the Senators’ netminder following a successful coach’s challenge.
Gritsyuk spoiled Ullmark’s shutout bid as his shot passed through a screen and into the back of the net with just 5:01 remaining.
Kleven locked up the victory with an empty-net goal.
