NEWARK — Taylor Hall, the reigning N.H.L. most valuable player, had two goals and two assists, and the slumping Devils, led by their top line, ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Friday night.
Kyle Palmieri added a goal and two assists, Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist, and the line finished with nine points as the Devils won for only the fourth time in the last 17 games.
Pavel Zacha ignited the outburst with a short-handed goal, and Keith Kinkaid made 25 saves for the Devils, who are in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Matt Duchene, who had missed six games with an injury, scored both Ottawa goals. Craig Anderson gave up five goals on 25 shots before being replaced by Mike McKenna for the third period.
The goal of the game, and maybe of the season, came early in the second period with the Devils leading by 3-1. Kinkaid made a save on a point shot by defenseman Thomas Chabot, but the rebound went to Brady Tkachuk on the edge of the crease. His backhander toward an open net was blocked by a sliding Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen and then pushed out of danger by Hischier.
Palmieri pushed the puck away from the net, and Mark Stone briefly took control of it but lost it. Palmieri collected it and led a 2-on-0 up the ice before sliding a pass to Hall, who beat Anderson for his 11th goal of the season and his second in a 72-second span.
Hall had given the Devils the 3-1 lead with a power-play goal. Palmieri stopped a clearing pass at the blue line and found Hall for a shot from the left circle that Anderson probably should have stopped.
Zajac scored on a breakaway 2 minutes 3 seconds after the opening face-off, and Palmieri stretched the lead to 2-0 at 10:54 after being set up by Hall, whose four-point night matched his best of the season.
Duchene netted a power-play goal to cut the lead to 2-1 at 2:20 of the second period, but Hall scored twice over the next three minutes, expanding the lead to three goals.
Duchene got his second goal with an extra Senators skater on the ice for a delayed penalty against the Devils.
Hischier got his ninth of the season with 1:02 left in the middle period.
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