NEWARK, N.J. _ The dark cloud of the NHL trade deadline was impossible to avoid Thursday night at Prudential Center. It hung over both teams that took the ice with the rumors swirling around one team all day and another just before the puck was dropped.
But once it was finally dropped, the Devils were able to go out there and just play while the Ottawa Senators failed to keep up. Cory Schneider turned aside 30 shots to record his first shutout since Nov. 1, 2017, to help the Devils to a 4-0 win over the Senators.
Schneider has now won three straight for the first time since a five-game winning streak in December of 2017. His recent performances may have put his name on the trade radar but that's just speculation. The two names on the market right now are forward Marcus Johansson and defenseman Ben Lovejoy. Both were late scratches for New Jersey on Thursday. Ottawa scratched Matt Duchene, Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel. All are expected to be dealt before the Feb. 25 trade deadline.
The Devils had to find some way to make up for lost players and the scoring came from two familiar faces in Travis Zajac and Miles Wood, and two players stepping in to fill vacant roles in Steven Santini and Kurtis Gabriel. However, they may have lost Wood in the process
Ottawa gave the Devils a hard push in the third period but Schneider effectively shut the Senators' attack down.
But just before they launched that attack, Wood scored late in the third to put New Jersey up 4-0. He showed off tremendous speed and vision, cutting through the slot to redirect a feed from Damon Severson into the net past goalie Anders Nilsson. Gabriel, a fourth-line grinder and American Hockey League veteran who is desperately trying to show he can play in the NHL, scored the first goal of the period and the first of his NHL career 3:40 into the frame, catching a fluttering puck off the faceoff and batting it through traffic.
Santini, the sparsely-used defenseman who has played only once in New Jersey's last eight games, made it 2-0 with his first of the season at 14:34 in the first. Left all alone at the point, Jesper Bratt slid him a long feed from the corner and he cranked a big slap shot through traffic.
One of the Devils' most steadying forces set the tone for the team when he scored on a redirect 11:45 into the game.
This has been a season to forget for the Devils but Thursday night showed they're still playing. They're still trying to overcome adversity and they're capable of it, even with a pieced-together roster.
.png?w=600)
