New Jersey Devils vs. Ottawa Senators: NHL Odds, Prediction

The surprising New Jersey Devils bring a two-game winning streak into Ottawa on Thursday night as the Senators look for their first home win of the new season.

New Jersey Devils at Ottawa Senators

When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
Moneylines: Senators -140, Devils +127 (5.5)

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

It’s the first of three meetings between the Devils and Senators. Ottawa goes to New Jersey on Oct. 27 and hosts the Devils again Feb. 6. Last year, Ottawa was 3-0 against New Jersey, holding the Devils to just two combined goals. Derick Brassard (1G, 2A) and Zack Smith (1G, 2A) led Ottawa with three points each in the series.

Mike Condon was 2-0 with a 0.50 goals-against average and .980 save percentage, and Craig Anderson was 1-0 with a 1.00 GAA and .967 save percentage. Travis Zajac and John Moore had the only two Devils goals. No. 1 netminder Cory Schneider started two of the games and had a 2.03 GAA and .930 save percentage.

Ottawa has won six of the past 10 in this series at home, and the under has hit in seven of those.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils (5-1-0) are an early surprise as they finished with just 70 points last season, worst in the Eastern Conference and better than only Colorado. New Jersey picked second in the 2017 draft and selected touted Swiss center Nico Hischier, whom some scouts had rated as the No. 1 overall prospect. Hischier, one of the preseason favourites for the Calder Trophy, has four assists.

The Devils are really riding their rookies thus far as defenseman Will Butcher leads the team with nine points (all assists) and Jesper Bratt has six points (3G, 3A). The team is without Zajac, who had 14 goals and 31 assists last year in 80 games. The Winnipeg native had surgery back in August for a torn pectoral muscle and was ruled out 4-6 months. New Jersey has one of the better goaltenders in the league in Schneider, the former Vancouver Canucks backup.

Ottawa Senators

It was a good news/bad news Tuesday for the Senators (3-1-2). The good is that two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Erik Karlsson made his season debut after missing the first five games due to offseason foot surgery. He played 22:25 with two shots and was minus-2. The bad is that Ottawa remained winless at home with a 3-0 defeat to the Canucks and may have lost defenceman Mark Borowiecki for a spell as he appeared to suffer a shoulder injury. He was in a second-period fight with the Canucks’ Derek Dorsett and didn’t return for the third period.

Borowiecki has an assist and 19 penalty minutes this season. Tuesday’s was Anderson’s first regulation loss as he surrendered all three goals on 24 shots. The Senators became the last NHL team to allow a power-play goal this season.

Devils at Senators Prediction

Ottawa 2, New Jersey 1.