|
 Anderson made several highlight-reel saves and stopped 34 shots
to secure his third shutout of the season, a 2-0 win over the
slumping New Jersey Devils.
"I think I've been sharp for the last few games, but I just wasn't
getting the results," said Anderson, who had been 2-6-2 in his
previous 10 games before Wednesday "Things weren't going as badly as
they looked. I just had a couple bad bounces here and there.
Hopefully, my luck changed for the good tonight."
Center Kyle Turris scored both goals for the Senators (13-12-6), who
fired coach Paul MacLean and hired assistant Dave Cameron to replace
him two weeks ago. They won for the second time in four games under
Cameron.
Turris had gone 10 straight games without a goal before scoring
twice Wednesday. He had an early power-play goal and an empty-netter
with 0.6 seconds remaining.
 "I don't think this was a game that we necessarily deserved to win,
but we'll take it," said Turris, who now has six goals on the
season. "I wasn't worried about me getting a chance to score. I knew
the opportunity would eventually come. I can help the team in other
ways. I don't think it was all part of the plan. We knew we played
terrible for the first two periods and still came away with a win.
As bad as we were, we were still up a goal on the road."
The Senators were outshot 34-16 and still earned the win.
"We needed to get the two points and got five out of the six on the
road," said Anderson, who earned his 29th career shutout. "But you
can't expect to win games like this, getting outshot by such a wide
margin and scoring just one goal (actually two). It's not quality
hockey and we all know that. But it's a credit to us that we won a
game where we didn't generate a lot of offense.
The loss was the fifth straight and sixth in seven games for New
Jersey (11-16-6), which began a critical four-game homestand.
"We have to score goals to win games," Devils center Adam Henrique
said. "We just needed one or two. We just need to score. We
certainly were getting chances and getting to pucks. We have to find
a way to get one."
Devils coach Peter DeBoer said it was all Anderson.
"You have to give Craig Anderson credit, because the way he was
playing, we could have put 100 pucks on him and nothing was getting
by him," DeBoer said."
Anderson has enjoyed great success against the Devils, posting an
8-2-1 record in 11 appearances. This was his second career shutout
against New Jersey.
The 33-year-old Anderson, who signed a three-year contract extension
with Ottawa last summer, almost had a chance to make history in the
closing seconds.
With the Devils manning an extra skater, Anderson lifted one that
slid across the ice right toward the goal. It just slid wide right
at the last minute or Anderson would have scored a goal.
"It was so close," Anderson said. "I've waited my whole life for a
chance like that and I may never get it again. I hooked it a little,
considering I'm a lefty. I knew I had to get it up in the air to
have a shot. I thought it was in."
[to top of second column] |
So did Turris.
"I thought he had it," said Turris, whose power-play goal on a
deflection just three minutes into the game gave the Senators a lead
that held up. "It was right on line."
The Senators wasted little time taking the lead, taking advantage of
a delay of game penalty by defenseman Jon Merrill less than three
minutes in.
Just 10 seconds after the penalty, Turris redirected a shot by
defenseman Erik Karlsson and somehow got it past Devils goalkeeper
Cory Schneider for his fifth goal of the season.
Incredibly, Turris was cross-checked by defenseman Peter Harrold and
still managed to get a stick on Karlsson's shot.
The second period, which was dominated by New Jersey, featured no
scoring, thanks to the brilliance of Anderson, who made at least
seven tough saves in the period.
Anderson was dead-on from the start and kicked aside 26 shots in the
first two periods, including three from Devils center Travis Zajac
and four apiece from right winger Jaromir Jagr and center Patrik
Elias in the second period.
Anderson made an outstanding save with 12:30 left as Jagr and center
Scott Gomez skated in alone. Anderson slid across the crease to stop
Gomez's shot.
NOTES: The Devils welcomed back a familiar face when C Patrik Elias
was activated off the injured list. Elias missed the last five games
because of a groin injury, but with the team facing a crucial
four-game home streak, Devils coach Peter DeBoer placed Elias on a
line with C Travis Zajac and LW Martin Havlat. ... DeBoer kept C
Scott Gomez on the same line with RW Jaromir Jagr because Gomez has
enjoyed stunning success there, scoring two goals and adding four
assists in just eight games. "He just knows where the puck is going
to go," Jagr said of Gomez. "He understands the game." ... D Damon
Severson was a late scratch with a lower body injury. It was the
first time this season that the impressive rookie Severson did not
play. Seth Helgeson took his place in the lineup. ... D Adam Larsson
is still battling the aftereffects of the mumps. He skated with the
team in the morning, but he's far from returning. ... The Senators
recalled C Jean-Gabriel Pageau from Binghamton of the AHL earlier
this week. ... The Senators are in a stretch where they play five of
six games on the road -- not the way for new coach Dave Cameron to
get used to his club.
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