Senators tame Rangers to reach Eastern Conference finals
NEW YORK: The Ottawa Senators booked their place in the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday after a deserved 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in their NHL play-off battle.
Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone fired Ottawa into an early lead at Madison Square Garden as the Canadian visitors got off to a dream start.
Mika Zibanejad pulled a goal back for New York to give the home fans hope but Erik Karlsson got the Senators’ third in the second period to make it 3-1.
A second New York goal from Chris Kreider in the third period made it 3-2 but Jean-Gabriel Pageau struck late to seal the win for Ottawa, who advance to their first conference final since 2007.
Senators goaltender Craig Anderson made 37 saves between the sticks for his eighth win of the play-offs. Rangers counterpart Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves.
The win gave the Senators a 4-2 victory in the best-of-seven series.
Senators coach Guy Boucher said his team had been determined to be aggressive after being dominated in their previous two visits to New York in Games Three and Four.
“We didn’t have two good games here,” Boucher said. “The players reloaded emotionally, mentally and physically for [Game Five], and we wanted to do the same in this game.
“We wanted to be better than we were both times we played here, and that meant the first period. We wanted to come out 0-0, 1-0 or only one behind and making sure we could build our game after that.
“They managed it extremely well.”
Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh bemoaned his team’s sluggish start.
“We came out slow. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “We were all pretty focused in here, saying the right things. But it’s a difference between saying and doing, and that showed up on the ice.”
The Canadians will now face either the Washington Capitals or Pittsburgh Penguins in the conference final. Washington and Pittsburgh play a decisive Game Seven on this morning (Thai time).
KINGS RE-SIGN PEARSON
Forward Tanner Pearson has agreed to a four-year, US$15 million contract to stay with the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings announced the deal on Tuesday.
Pearson had a career-high 24 goals and 20 assists for the Kings last season, just his second full NHL campaign. He has emerged as one of the low-scoring Kings’ top offensive threats in the past two years, scoring 39 goals while missing just five games.
The 24-year-old former first-round draft pick won a Stanley Cup ring in 2014, scoring 12 points in 24 postseason games. He would have been a restricted free agent.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby insisted on Tuesday he had shown “zero” sign of suffering a concussion following a heavy fall into the boards during his team’s play-off defeat to the Washington Capitals.
The Penguins captain — who had only just returned from a recent concussion — sparked fresh fears for his health after plunging headfirst into the boards in Monday’s Game Six loss to the Caps.