I pointed out in my pre game writeup that the Senators have struggled mightily to keep the puck out this season, especially during 5 vs 5 play, so Wednesday's offensive outburst shouldn't be too surprising.

Special teams was definitely a factor as the Devils scored two goals there - one up a man and one down a man - but the majority of the damage was done during 5 vs 5.

Led by multi-point efforts from rookie sensation Eric Gelinas, Patrik Elias and Damien Brunner the Devils managed to dismantle the Senators and take another step towards a playoff spot. Future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr and rookie Reid Boucher also chipped in with goals while Martin Brodeur stopped 23-25.

10 notes:

1. Boucher seems to be getting better and better each time he hits the ice, and he's starting to get some recognition. Pete DeBoer has been very careful with his ice time and has tried to tamper expectations, but Boucher's four shot effort that saw him score his 1st career NHL goal has even DeBoer talking him up.

(Via Tom Gulitti) DeBoer said Boucher reminds him of "a Mark Recchi-type player. Not to put too much pressure on him, but he has some of those abilities."

It's funny because earlier that night Bob McKenzie and the TSN panel mentioned that Boucher reminded them of Mark Recchi.

2. I think Gelinas has impressed me so much thus far in his career that I'm no longer surprised by anything he does. Last night he assisted on Boucher's goal by launching a rocket towards the net that hit the boards and bounced right to Boucher's stick. He also took a poor Brunner pass in his feet, kicked it up to his stick and used his quick release to put it post-in to stick the dagger in the Sens' comeback hopes. Gelinas had a goal and an assist on the night and was plus-3 while playing less than 18 minutes. He was the 1st star.

3. Sticking with Gelinas, he was quite physical last night as he had four hits and was involved in a couple scrums with Bobby Ryan and Colin Greening. As he gets more comfortable in the NHL he seems to be throwing his weight around more and more. I'm sure Scott Stevens doesn't have a problem with that.

4. All the hype is surrounding Gelinas, but I think Jon Merrill has quietly been playing some fantastic hockey. He's been very reliable in his own zone and was once again against Ottawa as he played almost 21 minutes and nothing bad happened while he was on the ice. Not only that, but he made a couple nice outlet passes and was getting involved offensively, too. He didn't record a point, but he had four shots and was a positive possession player. He's now played at least 20:30 in five of the last seven games.

5. Damien Brunner is playing the best hockey I've seen him play since he entered the NHL prior to last year's lockout shortened season. The 27-year-old Swiss forward has four goals and five points in his last five games and has been a scoring threat almost every time he's been on the ice. You can debate if he should have been penalized prior to his goal last night, but either way it was an unbelievable skill play to step around Cowen and deke Lehner out of his pants before sliding the puck by him. He's playing with a ton of confidence right now and it's showing. Now the Devils have to sit back and reap the rewards.

6. Stephen Gionta scored in his return on a pretty nice setup from Adam Henrique, but other than that I thought the 4th line was pretty bad. Watching the game, it seemed like they were hemmed in their own zone and allowing scoring chances every time they were out there. I took to the stats to see if I was right, and boy was I ever.

5 vs 5 shot attempts for/against

Steve Bernier: 2/13
Stephen Gionta: 2/10
Cam Janssen 2/4

I would blame Janssen, but he was on the ice 1/3 of the time with Gionta and Bernier. To be fair, they were out against Erik Karlsson quite a few shifts which definitely hurt their numbers. They do need to be better, though.

7. Travis Zajac was excellent once again. He shut down the Zibanejad - Turris - Ryan line and contributed offensively in the process. He had a nice assist on Jagr's goal, won 67% of his faceoffs, was a 60% possession player and played over 20 minutes. It may not always be flashy, but he's earning his money. The Devils wouldn't be sniffing the playoffs without him.

8. The Devils power play unit was 1/4, which is fine, but they still have some work to do. They were up a man for the first four minutes of the 3rd period and easily could have put the Senators away with a goal or two. They didn't score, obviously, and I'm not sure they generated more than one or two scoring chances in the process.

9. I have no complaints from Martin Brodeur's performance, but I think Cory Schneider should start Friday against the Ducks. Brodeur has had his moments, but Schneider has been the better and more consistent goaltender this season. Not only that, but you don't want Schneider continuously sitting on the bench and he's more familiar with the Ducks than Brodeur is. With all this said, the Devils are in a back-to-back situation so I expect both goaltenders to play this weekend regardless.

10. The Devils topped the Ducks earlier this season, but they're going to have their hands full on Friday. Anaheim continuous to win much more than they lose and they're starting to get healthy. It'll take all hands on deck if they hope to escape with two points and perhaps move into a playoff spot.

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