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Devils seek to spoil Sens' home opener with 1st victory

Oct 17, 2013 - 2:57 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New Jersey Devils once again will aim for their first victory of the season when the Ottawa Senators host Thursday's home opener at Canadian Tire Centre.

The Devils are 0-3-3 on the season and are coming off consecutive regulation losses. New Jersey does enter Thursday's game in Ottawa well rested, however, as the club hasn't played since Sunday's 3-0 setback in Winnipeg.

New Jersey sent 24 shots Al Montoya's way on Sunday, but the Jets goaltender stopped ever single one to lead Winnipeg to the win. Evander Kane added two goals to the home team's cause, while Cory Schneider stopped 32 shots in a losing effort.

The Devils, who have tallied just 11 goals in six games this season, have scored once on 15 opportunities on the power play in 2013-14. The club was 0- for-5 on the power play against the Jets and failed to score on a two-man advantage for 1:12 early in the second period.

"You got a full five-on-three there. If we score, I think it's a different game. We have to generate something there," New Jersey head coach Peter DeBoer remarked.

The Devils will turn to Martin Brodeur in net on Thursday. The 41-year-old future Hall of Famer is 0-1-2 with a 3.19 goals against average this season, but is 36-23-3 with four ties and a 2.17 GAA in 67 career games against the Senators.

New Jersey will play Thursday without forward Ryane Clowe, who suffered a head injury in the loss to the Jets and has been placed on injured reserve. Clowe, who signed a five-year, $24.25 million deal with the Devils in the offseason, has one assist in six games this season.

The Senators, meanwhile, are happy to be home after going 2-2-2 on a season- opening six-game road trip. Ottawa had lost four straight before closing the swing with Tuesday's overtime decision against the Phoenix Coyotes. Cory Conacher scored 2:48 into the extra session to lift the Sens to the 4-3 triumph in the desert.

Jason Spezza completed the fifth hat trick of his career for the Senators and his third goal gave Ottawa a 3-2 lead with 12:41 left in the third, but Phoenix's Mike Ribeiro was credited with a power-play goal with 3:30 remaining to force overtime.

In the extra session, Marc Methot sent a diagonal slap pass to below the right circle for a successful one-timer by Conacher. Craig Anderson made 34 saves for Ottawa.

"We end up with a .500 record to start the season with six games on the road. We can go home and feel good about that, not really feel good about maybe the way we played in all those games but we did find a way to get some points out of four of the games," said Ottawa head coach Paul MacLean.

The Senators are playing two straight and four of their next five games on home ice. Ottawa was 15-6-3 as the host during the lockout-shortened 2013 season compared to a 10-11-3 mark on the road.

Ottawa also won all three of its games against New Jersey last season and has taken six of nine overall in the series. The Devils have lost five of their last six games in Canada's capital city.