Karlsson lifts Senators past Devils in shootout

OTTAWA (AP) Erik Karlsson scored the winner in the shootout to lift the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

Mike Hoffman also scored for the Senators and Robin Lehner stopped 38 shots to win his third straight game.

Michael Ryder scored his 18th of the season and Cory Schneider had 31 saves for the Devils.

The Senators had a power play for the final 35 seconds of overtime, but couldn't take advantage.

The Devils had a great chance on a 3-on-1 earlier in the extra period, but Lehner stopped Jaromir Jagr and at the other end Schneider robbed Chris Phillips from in close. By the end of overtime Jagr had been stopped three times, including on a breakaway.

The game lacked any intensity for the first 30 minutes and looked like two teams who missed the playoffs just playing out the season.

The first excitement for the announced crowd of 19,270 at Canadian Tire Place came midway through the second when Ales Hemsky was awarded a penalty shot after being pulled down by Marek Zidlicky.

Hemsky made little of the opportunity as he shot wide of the net.

The play did, however, seem to inspire the Senators as they scored a minute later when Mika Zibanejad made a pass back to a trailing Hoffman.

The Devils tied it at the 17-minute mark of the period as the Senators were unable to clear a rebound and Tim Sestito found Ryder through traffic.

A scoreless first period saw Ottawa's Mark Stone miss on a great opportunity and Clarke MacArthur being robbed point blank. The Devils didn't register their first shot until the eight-minute mark.

NOTES: C Colin Greening returned to the Senators' lineup after missing the last six games with a lower-body injury. ... The Senators were without D Jared Cowen (lower body, day-to-day) and RW Bobby Ryan (sports hernia, out for season). LW Matt Kassian and C Jean-Gabriel Pageau were healthy scratches. ... Devils LW Patrik Elias returned after missing the last two games. ... The Devils were without C Adam Henrique (undisclosed, day-to-day), C Jacob Josefson (lower body, day-to-day), LW Ryan Clowe (head, day-to-day) and D Bryce Salvador (lower body, day-to-day). D Peter Harrold and D Eric Gelinas were healthy scratches.