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Senators shine in rout of Devils

Oct 22, 2006 - 1:55 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The Ottawa Senators have been playing poorly at home. They took out their frustrations on the New Jersey Devils.

Dean McAmmond and Antoine Vermette each scored two goals and the Senators erupted for four second-period tallies in just over six minutes en route to snapping their five-game home winless streak with an 8-1 rout of the Devils.

Already holding a 2-1 lead, the Senators stormed the Devils' end with 17 shots in the second period to chase goaltender Martin Brodeur.

Vermette scored twice in the session while defensemen Joe Corvo and Tom Preissing netted the other tallies to open up a 6-1 advantage.

"It's nice that we won and scored a lot of goals to lift our spirit," Vermette said. "When it was 4-1, we noticed the bounces were finally going for us. That's what happens when you work hard. Eventually you'll get the bounces and it feels really nice."

Ottawa's eight-goal outburst followed a stretch where they scored 10 in their first six games.

"We played well as a team, and even got one on the power play," McAmmond said. "We made chances, we got tips, we got shots through and onto the night. We really played our game well tonight."

Brodeur only stopped 20 of 26 shots and was replaced by Scott Clemmensen at 13:57 of the second period after Vermette's second goal.

"We had holes everywhere in our coverage, and we were reacting to them instead of taking the play to them," Brodeur said. "We let the puck come to us instead of attacking."

Jason Spezza had a goal and two assists for the Senators, who went 1-for-4 on the power play.

Ottawa netminder Ray Emery made 34 saves, while Clemmensen finished with 10.

"It's great to play nets with that kind of offensive support," said Emery, who entered with a 1.67 goals-against average. "I was able to play high in the crease all night to be in a good position. It's nice to get one at home since we've struggled from the start here."

Brian Gionta scored the only goal for New Jersey, which went 0-for-3 with the extra skater.

"The responsibility falls on the whole team," New Jersey's Scott Gomez said of the rout. "We didn't take them lightly, it was just one of those nights. They had the bounces, but we came in here and was just terrible. When things go bad they go awfully bad, and it's definitely one you have to leave behind."