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Karlsson’s first goal of post-season gives underdog Ottawa hard-fought Game 1 win
Erik Karlsson introduced the New York Rangers to his playoff heroics on Thursday night at the CTC, scoring late to give the Senators a 2-1 win in the Round 2 opener. It wasn’t quite a full house, but the fans who were there went home happy.
Those who didn’t show up have no idea what they missed.
The Senators opened up Round 2 of the NHL playoffs on Thursday night with hundreds of empty seats at the 18,572-seat Canadian Tire Centre. But the 16,744 who were on hand didn’t leave with an empty feeling as the club pulled off a dramatic 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers.
By the final buzzer, the fans who did show up were thrilled with the finish.
Captain Erik Karlsson came through in the crunch as he scored his first of the playoffs to secure the win with 4:11 left in the third.
Ryan Dzingel also chipped in a goal for Ottawa, while Craig Anderson was solid in net. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant, but couldn’t do it by himself as only Ryan McDonagh scored for New York.
Karlsson’s shot from below the goal-line bounced off Derek Stepan and past Lundqvist to give the Senators the win and secure a 1-0 series lead. Lundqvist made 41 stops, so Karlsson’s first game-winning playoff goal of his career was timely.
“I just wanted to get the puck in there and hope for a good bounce. I got a great bounce and it’s just nice to get,” Karlsson said. “I think with the amount of pucks we put at the net, we deserved one of those.
“We knew this was going to be a battle. I think we can do a better job taking away his vision and getting pucks in there. I think we did a good job getting pucks to the net, but when secondary opportunities come along, we’ve got to be a little bit hungrier and we’ve got to put a few more bodies in front.”
Coach Guy Boucher, who was playing up the underdog card in a big way before the series started, said the Senators didn’t want to be embarrassed. That may have been part of the motivation for why they were so dominant for 60 minutes.
“Tonight, the players didn’t want to get swept in four,” Boucher said.
“All we could hear was how much they were going to crush us, it’s a scary team, they’ve got four lines, their goaltender is outstanding, and there was a lot of fear tonight that helped us and we were able to do it.
“We expect them to bounce back with a game that’s even better, so we know how tough it’s going to be.”
Just when everybody was wondering if the Senators were ever going to beat Lundqvist, Dzingel’s first career NHL playoff goal with 1:21 left in the second tied it up 1-1 going into the third period. That goal came on Ottawa’s fourth power play of the night and it was the club’s 33rd shot of the game on Lundqvist.
“Alex Burrows told me to enjoy it. I’ve been staying positive and, at the end of the day, we’re in the playoffs, we’re in the second round and this is something you dream of as a kid. No matter what happens, I’m just having fun and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Dzingel said with a wide smile.
Though the Rangers’ power play has been the NHL’s worst in the playoffs, the Senators gave them enough chances that New York finally scored.
With Cody Ceci for off for tripping, McDonagh fired a shot from the point that Anderson appeared not to see as it beat him inside the post at 7:10.
That came on New York’s third power play of the game.
If you’re wondering how good Lundqvist performed in the first, the shots were 21-12 in favour of the Senators — and a lot of those were big saves. He made a big one on Zack Smith late, while Anderson made his best stop on McDonagh when he split the club’s defence and went in alone.
The 21 shots in one period was a playoff franchise record by the Senators.
The Senators had two golden opportunities with back-to-back power plays in the first 10 minutes and couldn’t take advantage of either. Make no mistake, they had no shortage of opportunities, but Lundqvist was there to make the glove save.
His best came when he robbed Mark Stone on the doorstep on the first man advantage.
“We’re playing the New York Rangers here, there’s no way we’re going to let ourselves get too high here, it’s only Game 1,” said defenceman Marc Methot.
“We still have a long way to go. You’ve put yourself in a good position when you win that first game, so we’ll take it.”
Ottawa got off to the kind of start it wanted and the club will play host to Game 2 on Saturday at 3 p.m., with the chance to move into the driver’s seat before the series moves to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
We’re going to take care of our stuff and the things we need to do well to have a chance to win this series.