When Martin Brodeur last visited Ottawa in October he was lit up like a Christmas tree. But the three-time Stanley Cup champion was lights-out in his return Saturday afternoon.

Brodeur backstopped the New Jersey Devils to a second straight win, stopping 33 of 35 shots in a 3-2 decision over the Senators.

Senators' defenceman Christoph Schubert slides into New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur during the third period.
(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

A two-time recipient of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender, Brodeur was in top form, particularly in the third period when he made 12 saves.

Back on Oct. 21, Ottawa chased Brodeur midway through the second period after scoring six times on 26 shots in an 8-1 rout.

"We thought about it [the embarrassing outing]," said Brodeur, who picked up his league-high 24th win of the season. "You try to step up your game when one of those happens.

"Revenge was definitely on our minds. We beat them in New Jersey [3-2 on Nov. 17], but it was in this building that we wanted to beat them. We didn't embarrass them, but we won."

The Olympic champion put an end to the Senators' season-high six-game points streak and watched the duo of Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez help the Devils to a sixth consecutive game with at least a point.

'It sticks with you'

Gionta scored two goals, including the winner with 3:33 remaining in regulation when he redirected a Gomez pass by Ottawa netminder Ray Emery to give New Jersey a 3-1 lead.

"I think everyone here was embarrassed [by the October loss]," Gionta said. "It sticks with you. I think everyone wanted to come back here and have a better effort and we did."

Ottawa's Tom Preissing closed the gap to 3-2, but an interference penalty to Senators defenceman Chris Phillips 35 seconds later sealed his team's fate.

Devils forward Zach Parise gave his team an early lead before Patrick Eaves answered later in the first period.

Emery also had a good game, making 26 saves, but New Jersey won for the fifth time in its last six outings to improve to 24-13-4.

With the game tied 1-1, the Devils killed off a penalty early in the second period before Gionta tipped David Hale's point shot to make it 2-1.

Brodeur thwarted Senators snipers Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson on several occasions. The dynamic duo combined for eight shots but failed to hit the scoresheet after recording nine and eight points, respectively, in the previous six games.

Ottawa (23-18-2) had a chance for the equalizer with a power play midway through the third period, but Brodeur, with Chris Neil repeatedly in his face, stopped Peter Schaefer on a couple of chances.

"[Brodeur] was on top of his game," Eaves said. "They played the typical hockey that they're known to play. We just came up a little bit short."

The Senators, winners of five of their last seven outings, were minus injured forwards Jason Spezza (knee), Mike Fisher (knee) and Antoine Vermette (hip).

Devils defenceman Brian Rafalski played his 500th NHL game and finished plus-3 with three shots and two blocked shots in 30 minutes, 53 seconds of ice time.

Ottawa hosts Philadelphia Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The Flyers fell 4-3 to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

With files from the Canadian Press