Rangers top Senators 4-1, tie series 2-2
- by Fredrick Graves
- in Sport
- — May 13, 2017
But with 1:26 left in regulation, Senators center Derick Brassard evened the score when he put the puck past Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist.
To get a sense of how panicked Ottawa Senators fans are after their team got crushed in consecutive games in NY against the Rangers, you need look no further than last night's Twitter trends. The past two games the Rangers have been able to shut down Ottawa at the blue line.
Hoffman tied the game at the 8:17 mark of the middle period, whipping a shot past Lundqvist after a nice pass by Clark MacArthur on a rush started by Erik Karlsson. Condon finished with nine stops. Yet we are being led to believe that he's the glue holding together a team that racked up 102 points this season, mostly without him. "Had their fans and the momentum".
"They have a guy like Glass running around all he wants, but we're physically not going to back down". Karlsson played during the first round with two microfractures in one of his feet from blocking a shot late in the regular season.
"There is definitely an area as far as structure-wise that I thought we had addressed", Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.
Karlsson left Thursday's Senators loss with a lower-body injury after he collided with Rangers forward Chris Kreider.
Ottawa trailed 2-0 less than 5 1/2 minutes into the game, before scoring three times to take the lead midway through the second period. At the end of the match, the teams exchanged a series of clashes that the result of the game was not affected. Tanner Glass recorded two assists, and the triumvirate of Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller and Michael Grabner each had an assist. Great, they are all secondary assists.
The same thing can be said for just about any team that is slammed with 40 penalty minutes in a big Game 4. He finally found the back of the net, delivering the final blow for the Capitals in a 4-2 win over the Penguins.
Vigneault later added NY has "to win tomorrow", while noting the Rangers "understand what we have to do against (the Senators) to be successful". He's been playing some really good hockey. "I got lucky. We'll take the win in Ottawa", said Brassard, who come off the bench as the extra player.
The teams will now head back to Manhattan for Game 6 of the best-of-seven on Tuesday with the Senators ahead 3-2.
"Unless the trainers tell me otherwise, I will assume Karlsson will be there", Boucher said. It's not a one-man show here.
Ottawa erased its early deficit, pulling within one late in the first and scoring 33 seconds apart in the second to take a 3-2 lead on Pyatt's goal at 8:50. They'll also need a little more from Craig Anderson. He outworked Senators defenseman Cody Ceci for the puck behind the Ottawa net and sent it to the boards.
Then, at 15:54, Lindberg floated a shot from the left wing that somehow eluded Anderson after a strong forecheck by Glass and J.T. Miller to give NY a three-goal advantage.
Braden Holtby, Capitals - The Vezina Trophy finalist stopped 20 shots, including 12 saves in third period, to get the win for the Caps.
You know, said the Rangers coach, every time I see you it reminds me how much older were getting eh? The series shifts back to Ottawa with the Rangers looking to be in control. On the plus side, Ottawa has won both of their home games and if they can continue that trend they could be OK.
If the Rangers' recent physical play pressures the Senators into playing veteran agitator Chris Neil, then the Rangers did their job. Lundqvist earned his 61st playoff win to tie Tom Barrasso for 13th on the NHL's career list.
