Pageau pots pair as Sens roll over Rangers

NEW YORK After the romp over the New York Rangers was complete, Brady Tkachuk was wearing a few new scrapes and scars. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I was having a blast,” said Tkachuk, who was in the middle of all the scoring and scrums, helping lead the Senators to a 6-2 victory, their first road win of the season.

“It was a fun game. A great team win. It’s always fun coming to (Madison Square Garden). It’s probably the best rink in the world. It’s definitely an awesome time coming here.”

Tkachuk finished with a goal, an assist, four penalty minutes and six shots on goal and was a thorn in the Rangers’ side all night. So, too, was Jean- Gabriel Pageau, dominating in all facets of the game while registering two goals of his own.

Tyler Ennis and Vladislav Namestnikov scored on the power play for the Senators, while Ron Hainsey also scored.

As dominating as the Senators were in the final 50 minutes of the game, they need to thank Anders Nilsson for keeping them in the game in the opening minutes.

At one point, the Rangers led 11-0 on the shot clock, before the Senators found their legs and turned the game around with the first-period goals from Pageau and Ennis. The Senators had the final 14 shots of the first period against Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.

“It was (Nilsson) in net who kept us in there, gave us a chance to come back,” said Pageau. “Once we got back, I thought we started putting pucks behind them, starting shooting more, starting blocking shots. A couple of battles, a couple of fights, that gave us the momentum.”

It was Ottawa’s first road victory in six attempts. The Senators, who lost 5-2 to the Boston Bruins on Saturday, have a chance to come home with a winning record from the road trip if they can knock off the New York Islanders on Tuesday in Brooklyn.

“They came out flying in the first 10 minutes, they really pushed us back,” said Nilsson. “It was good to see our response and we got the power play to score some good goals and turned around the momentum for the rest of the game. That’s a big confidence boost for us.”

THE GOOD SOLDIER

Bobby Ryan, who sat out as a healthy scratch against the Sharks and Bruins, had some early jump while being given decent minutes by Smith. He had two shots on goal in 5:53 of time in the first period.

Ryan said he tried his best to go with the flow last week, accepting his new situation. He said the long week of practice between

They came out flying in the first 10 minutes, they really pushed us back. It was good to see our response and we ... turned around the momentum for the rest of the game.

the Sharks and Bruins might have been a good thing for him.

“You just get back into the rhythm and you kind of forget you’re missing games because of that,” Ryan said.

HELPING SABOURIN

As a healthy scratch against Boston, Ryan did what he could to support Scott Sabourin following the nasty collision on Saturday night that knocked him out cold on the ice.

“I was able to see him on the way into the ambulance, to just check in and to make sure I gave his fiancée a call for him,” said Ryan. “Any time anyone goes down, whether it’s your teammate or (somebody on) the other side, there’s a lot of respect.”

Sabourin flew back to Ottawa from Boston late Sunday and is being closely monitored by team doctors.

Senators coach D.J. Smith didn’t want to play doctor himself, but it’s likely Sabourin is going through a full battery of tests to determine the extent of injuries, including a potential concussion.

“I talked to Scott yesterday,” Smith said. “I can’t believe how tough a kid he is. It was like nothing happened.”