RANGERS EVEN UP SERIES
Senators drop Game 4 to New York
The picture is looking pretty grim for the Ottawa Senators this morning.
Not only did the Senators allow the New York Rangers back into their second-round series Thursday night, they finished the game without captain Erik Karlsson, who was held out for precautionary reasons.
Karlsson, the Senators’ best player, left Game 4 at the end of the second period with a foot injury, adding further insult to an ugly 4-1 setback at Madison Square Garden.
“He could have come back but we opted to keep him out,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said about Karlsson after the game
Asked if there was a chance he’d miss Saturday’s game, Boucher added: “Not right now.”
After returning home to the city that never sleeps in a twogame series hole, the Rangers have woken up and tied it up 2-2. It’s now a best-of-three, with Game 5 set for Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Canadian Tire Centre. After being overpowered by the Rangers in back-to-back games at the Garden, the Senators need to get themselves back on track, but they still do have home ice advantage in a series in which the visiting team has yet to win.
Already playing with two hairline fractures in his foot, Karlsson was hurting on the bench in a big way to end the second period. He collided with Rangers forward Chris Kreider and slammed his heel into the boards. There was no update on the status of Karlsson, who missed four of the Senators’ final six games of the regular season.
Karlsson first suffered the injury when he blocked a shot during a March 28 game in Philadelphia and has been playing with the ailment since. If he’s unable to play the rest of the series, the job will become even more difficult for the Senators.
Oscar Lindberg scored twice for the Rangers on Thursday night, while Nick Holden and Kreider also added goals.
Senators goaltender Craig Anderson, who will start Saturday, took a seat on the bench after giving up three goals in 20 shots in the first two periods. Mike Condon took over in the third period when it was out of reach, while only Kyle Turris was able to beat Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
“The concern level is high (when Karlsson doesn’t finish), but we’ve got 36 hours to get him ready to go,” said winger Bobby Ryan.
Anderson said the Senators have to turn the page quickly.
“You learn from your mistakes, you move forward and get ready for the next battle,” said Anderson.
Upset with the officiating, the Senators’ frustrations boiled over at the end with scrums in the final couple of minutes.
“You guys were wondering when this was going to happen and there was a reason. This was kind of the turning point,” said centre Zack Smith. “It was a little heated there at the end but it happens.
“Frustration is probably a big part of it. I’m going to get in trouble if I comment. I didn’t agree with some of the calls. It’s not something we should worry about, but I just thought there was a couple of simple calls that could have been made to prevent that.”
Through 40 minutes, the Senators were down 3-0 on the scoreboard while being outshot 20-16 and weren’t even putting up much
of a fight. After Game 1, Boucher declared his team needed 40 shots a night or more to beat Lundqvist and they haven’t even come close to that total since then, which is making his job look awfully easy.
Lindberg’s second of the night was a floater from the top of the circle that Anderson looked like he completely missed. That came at 15:54 of the second and it must have left the Senators wondering what it was going to take to get this series turned around, because this wasn’t pretty in any way, shape or form.
Only 2:01 into the second, the Rangers ended up with a 2-on-0 breakaway and, as a result, pulled out to an easy 2-0 lead. After a blocked shot, Michael Grabner threw a pass across to Lindberg and he made no mistake in beating Anderson, who had no chance, on the glove side to bring the New York faithful to their feet.
The Senators were trailing 1-0 after the first.
After Mark Stone couldn’t corral the puck in his own end, the Rangers ended up with a 3-on-2 rush. It was Holden who opened up the scoring at 14:04 when he took a pass from Jimmy Hayes, ended up in alone and beat Anderson on the stick side. It’s the fourth straight game in this series that the Senators have given up the first goal.
“They played well in their two games at home and we played well in our two games at home and now we’ve got a series,” said Boucher.
The result, though, was just more of the same. But this loss might be even bigger if Karlsson doesn’t return to the series.
They played well in their two games at home and we played well in our two games at home and now we’ve got a series.