NHL Devils fighting back, tie series

New Jersey's offense came up with a big effort in a 4-1 win over Ottawa.
OTTAWA (AP) -- The New Jersey Devils might have the Ottawa Senators' attention now.
After spending the past few days hearing about how deep in talent the Senators were, the Devils mustered a significant response.
Martin Brodeur stopped 30 shots, and New Jersey's offense came up with a big effort as the Devils beat the Senators 4-1 on Tuesday night to even their NHL Eastern Conference finals series.
Scorers
John Madden, Tommy Albelin, Jeff Friesen and Jay Pandolfo scored for the Devils, who erased questions whether they can contain the potent Senators and bounce back from Saturday's sloppy series-opening 3-2 overtime loss.
"They are a good hockey club, but so are we," Devils coach Pat Burns said. "But we didn't come in here through luck like everybody said."
The Devils, making their third conference finals appearance in four years, also seemed stung by the perceived lack of respect they got from their opponents after the opener.
"They were awfully excited winning Game 1," Devils center Joe Nieuwendyk said. "But there's a lot of guys that have been through these long battles before, and it takes four to win a series."
In the Western Conference final, Minnesota is at Anaheim on tonight with the Mighty Ducks leading the series 2-0.
It's the Senators turn to respond as the best-of-seven series, tied at 1-1, shifts to New Jersey where the Devils are 6-0 during the playoffs.
"Who cares?" Senators forward Bryan Smolinski said, referring to the Devils' unbeaten home record. "It doesn't matter. We're still a fantastic team."
The Senators, who finished with NHL's best regular-season record, didn't look so fantastic in Game 2.
They came out flat, generated few scoring chances, finished 0-for-7 in power-play opportunities, and allowed more than two goals for the first time in 12 games, ending an NHL playoff record streak they set in Game 1.
Smolinski did credit the Devils for how they responded.
"They didn't beat us, they butt-kicked us," Smolinski said. "We just looked a little sluggish, a little lethargic. No particular reason, they just outbattled us."
The Devils, who previously hadn't trailed in a series this postseason, improved to 9-3, while Ottawa, making its first third-round appearance in its 11-year history, fell to 9-4.
The loss was also the Senators' first in which they've scored this postseason. They were shut out in their three previous losses, once against the New York Islanders, and twice by Philadelphia.
After jumping out to a 2-0 first-period lead, the Devils put the game away after Ottawa's Radek Bonk scored early in the second period.
Madden beat Senators defenseman Karel Rachunek to a loose puck to score on a partial break at the 16:33 mark of the second, and Pandolfo's goal sealed the win with 5:31 left.
Team effort
"It was looking pretty bleak from everybody after we lost the first game," Devils captain Scott Stevens said. "But we felt we wanted to come and get this game tonight. We battled hard and got a big team effort from everyone."
The Senators might have to continue without defenseman Wade Redden, who was favoring his right knee and didn't return after he left midway through the third because of a knee-on-knee collision with New Jersey's Turner Stevenson.