Brian Gionta picked the right moment to snap his unlucky “13” game scoring drought when he netted the game-winner in overtime against the Eastern Conference leader, the Ottawa Senators, on Wednesday night. But the Senators did not make this win an easy win.

Ottawa was the first to take the lead with just 5:25 into regulation. Ottawa’s Luke Richardson sent a wrist-shot from the blue line, hitting David Clarkson, then odd caroming off the ice and past Brodeur, tallying his second of the season. The Devils dropped another first period without scoring. In the past month, when the Devils have fallen in the first, they have failed to gain momentum in the final forty minutes. But this time, the Devils fought to keep the Senators at bay.

In the second period, with Paul Martin in the penalty box for hooking, Jamie Langenbrunner and Patrik Elias took advantage of a bad turnover, and headed into the Ottawa zone. Langenbrunner halted for a brief second at the left face-off circle and fired in a short-handed goal, tying up the game at 6:12.

Not even a minute following the Devils’ first goal, Brian Gionta and Chris Neil started to scrap in the Ottawa zone, which brought a five-on-five brawl before the linesmen were able to break the main instigators apart. The whole incident started when Neil smacked Gionta from behind with his stick. When Gionta turned around to say something to Neil, Neil had delivered four punches to his face before the linesmen got involved. Neil received a double minor for roughing, while Gionta received a two-minute minor for fighting.

With Neil and Gionta in the penalty box, the Devils’ man-advantage quickly became a four-on-four when Martin was sent to the box for hooking. But that didn’t stop Karel Rachunek from scoring his fourth goal of the season seconds later with a shorthanded wrist-shot at 8:04. Elias received his second assist on the goal. Randy Robitaille would tie up the game at 15:29 with his tenth of the season.

The third went scoreless as they headed into overtime. With just a couple minutes into overtime, Gionta passed the puck to himself when he sent it along to the boards and past Ottawa’s Cory Stillman, firing a shot from the right circle, which was stopped by Chris Phillips. Langenbrunner found the puck and threw a backhander which was stopped by Gerber, but Gionta was waiting in front for the rebound to snap it in and tally the game-winner at 2:14, his third game-winning goal of the season.

Brodeur made 23 saves, while Gerber accounted for 28 saves in the contest. Brodeur’s win over the Senators marked his 524th career victory, just 27 shy of Patrick Roy's all-time mark of 551.

With their overtime win, the Devils are within one point of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are still holding on to first place in the Atlantic Division. The Atlanta Thrashers visit Prudential Center on Friday.