OTTAWA - It was deja vu Monday night for Daniel Alfredsson and the Ottawa Senators.
Daniel Alfredsson scored four minutes into overtime as the Ottawa Senators came back from a 2-0 third-period deficit for a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Alfredsson took a pass from Erik Karlsson and after moving in a few strides beat Martin Brodeur with a wrist shot from the slot while the Senators were on a 4-on-3 power play.
Last Friday, Alfredsson scored his 400th career goal on a pass from Karlsson in overtime as the Senators were down 3-0 to the Calgary Flames before recording a 4-3 win.
"It's Erik's fault. He didn't get me a good pass," Alfredsson quipped on taking longer to score the winner Monday. "I don't mind. I'll take them any day if they end like this. It's fun to win at home and to come back the way we did. I think it builds character -- finding ways to win.
"Every night's a battle and you just have to try to steal as many points as you can and we've been doing that pretty well lately."
Jason Spezza scored early in the third period to pull the Senators to within a goal of the Devils as he beat Brodeur low stick side on a breakaway at 1:21.
Then, at 13:17 while short handed, Erik Condra beat Brodeur from a sharp angle to tie the game and eventually force the extra time.
Craig Anderson got the start in goal for the Senators (19-16-5) and turned aside 27 of the Devils' shots, including a great toe save on Zach Parise in overtime. It was Ottawa's third straight win.
Dainius Zubrus and David Clarkson had the other goals for the Devils (22-15-1), who got a 29-save performance from Brodeur.
"Everybody was tired and nobody was making a play and we got a hooking penalty. That was an unfortunate break for us and they took advantage of it," said Brodeur. "It was a road game and they've been playing real well as of late so to get a point was good but in the position we were in in the game we should have got two."
Neither team was able to generate any offence through the opening 20 minutes despite both teams getting nine shots on net, the same number they each had again in the second period.
The difference in the second however, was that the Devils were able to score twice while the Senators, despite three power plays including a 5-on-3 for 23 seconds, could not.
Zubrus opened the scoring off a turnover deep in the Senators' zone. After a failed clearing attempt, Zubrus got the puck in the slot and beat Anderson through the legs. The Ottawa goaltender got a piece of the puck before it rolled into the net at 7:47.
On almost an identical play seconds after killing off a penalty, Travis Zajac's backhand from almost the same spot went through Anderson's leg but was slapped into the net by Clarkson at 14:18 as it rolled towards the goal-line.
"I thought it was a real well played game and both teams had good discipline and structure and had to execute in order to get opportunities at the net," said Senators' coach Paul MacLean.
"I thought we stuck to it the whole game and got rewarded for it."
Notes: Chris Neil played his 690th career game Monday night moving him one ahead of Radek Bonk and into fourth place on the Senators' all-time games played list... Devils' netminder Martin Brodeur is one assist shy of 40 for his career... Bobby Butler is continuing to have his struggles offensively with just one goal and one assist in his past 17 games with the Senators. He did hit two posts New Year's Eve in Buffalo... Sergei Gonchar took the pre-game skate for the Senators Monday but was a game-time scratch and missed his second game with a head injury... Tim Sestito and Anton Volchenkov were scratches for the Devils... Sestito has failed to register a point in 16 games with the Devils this season.
