Ottawa defeats Rangers to open 3-2 series lead
Senators hold on to win another game in overtime
OTTAWA, Ontario — Kyle Turris scored 6:28 into overtime to lift the Ottawa Senators to 5-4 victory against the visiting New York Rangers Saturday for a 3-2 series lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Derick Brassard tied the score with 1:26 left in the third period for the Senators. Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Tom Pyatt also scored and Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots.
It was Ottawa’s fifth overtime win of the postseason, including a double-overtime victory here against the Rangers in Game 2.
Jesper Fast, Nick Holden, Ryan McDonagh and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 32 saves.
“We can’t lose another game,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.
Michael Grabner appeared to win it for the Rangers less than 5 minutes into overtime, but the goal was disallowed because his redirection came on a highstick.
Turris then knocked in the rebound of his own shot through Lundqvist’s fivehole to put the Senators one win away from returning to the conference finals for the first time since 2007.
Game 6 is Tuesday night in New York.
Ottawa trailed 2-0 less than 5½ minutes into the game, before scoring three times to take the lead midway through the second period.
McDonagh tied it for the Rangers late in the second and Vesey gave them the lead with 7:12 remaining in the third.
With Anderson pulled for an extra skater, Brassard tied it with the puck deflecting in off the back of Rangers defenseman Brandon Smith’s right skate.
“We’ve played our best hockey coming home and being desperate,” Marc Staal said. “Now we’re one game away from being out of it. We know it’s going to be there, we’re going to be there. We’re going to respond the right way and get this thing back in Ottawa.”
The Senators, who have considered themselves underdogs since Game 1, are one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 10 years.
The Senators are 4-0 alltime in overtime against the Rangers, and 5-1 in overtime in this year’s playoffs.
Teams that win Game 5 when a series is tied 2-2 have gone on to win 78.7 per cent of the time, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, including a 3-0 in 2017.
“We know it’s going to be very difficult,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said. “They have a lot of tools; we have to figure out how to be better than the last two times we’ve been there.”
Lundqvist looked shaky early on, but made saves that kept Ottawa from tying it in the first. His best stop came when he leapt from left to right to deny Turris’s onetime attempt from the left faceoff circle on a power play.
But the Rangers could not hold the fort again as Brassard, who was traded for Mika Zibanejad last summer, kept the Senators’ hopes alive.
“We’re in this situation together here,” said the Rangers McDonagh.
“I guarantee you we’re not going to quit. We just have to refocus here, get rejuvenated. We’ve got to win a hockey game at home. That’s all we’ve got to focus on.”