Strong start sends Senators to East fi nals
NEW YORK — Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist to help the Ottawa Senators advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 6 of their second-round series Tuesday night.
Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone scored in the first period to power Ottawa to a fast start, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an emptynetter. Clarke MacArthur had two assists, and Craig
Anderson stopped 37 shots.
The Senators, headed to the conference finals for the first time since their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007, will face either Pittsburgh or Washington in the next round. Their series is headed to Game 7 tonight.
Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist had 22 saves.
The Rangers trailed 3-1 after two periods, but Kreider got them within one just 53 seconds into the third. He skated up the middle, went to his left and put the puck past Anderson for his third goal of the postseason.
New York outshot Ottawa 15-5 in the third but couldn’t get the equalizer. Kreider had a chance a little over 5 minutes in, but didn’t get a clean shot on a pass from Zibanejad as his attempt from in front trickled off his stick and was stopped by Anderson.
Lundqvist made some stellar saves late in the third, including a stop on Derick Brassard from the right side with 5 minutes left.
Pageau capped the scoring with 6.2 seconds left for his sixth goal of the series and seventh of the postseason.
Playing with a 2-0 lead, Ottawa was more aggressive to start the second period, outshooting the Rangers 6- 1 over the first 7 minutes.
Anderson stopped a shot by Kevin Hayes and then smothered a follow attempt by Michael Grabner in front near the midpoint of the middle period.
Zibanejad got the Rangers on the scoreboard with about 6
minutes left in the second. He took a pass from Mats Zuccarello, skated in and beat Anderson on the glove side into the top right corner.
Karlsson then beat Lundqvist on the blocker side with 4: 07 remaining to restore the Senators’ two- goal lead.
The Rangers outshot the Senators 13- 10 in the first, but trailed 2- 0 after 20 minutes. New York had three power plays and more scoring chances, but Ottawa was aggressive on defense while blocking nine shots in the opening period, and whatever got past the defense was stopped by Anderson.