Senators earn a spot in East finals
Karlsson has goal and assist and Anderson makes 37 saves to oust Rangers in six games.
NEW YORK — Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators showed off their toughness in the third period. The New York Rangers pushed and pushed, but the resilient Senators held on — all the way to their first Eastern Conference final in 10 years.
Karlsson had a goal and an assist, Craig Anderson made 37 saves and the Senators eliminated the Rangers with a 4-2 victory Tuesday night in Game 6 of their second-round series.
“We knew they were going to come back with a real good push,” Senators forward Kyle Turris said. “We knew it was going to be probably the hardest period of the playoffs for us so far. It was and we just tried to weather the storm.”
Trailing 3-1 after two periods, New York pulled within one on Chris Kreider’s goal 53 seconds into the third. The Rangers outshot the Senators 15-5 in the final period, but couldn’t find the equalizer.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau clinched the series for Ottawa with an empty-netter with 6.2 seconds left for his seventh goal of the postseason.
“They had chances and a lot of them,” forward Mark Stone said. “That was the time when we needed our goaltender to be big.”
Stone and Mike Hoffman scored in the first period for Ottawa, and Clarke MacArthur finished with two assists.
The Senators, headed to the conference finals for the first time since their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007, will face Pittsburgh or Washington in the next round.
Mika Zibanejad also scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist had 22 saves.
“Right now all you feel is disappointment and it’s a numb feeling,” Lundqvist said. “It’s not a great feeling. You realize how much work and how many hours you put into this to put yourself in this spot to get this chance.”
Said Rangers center Derek Stepan: “We had a lot of chances that I think we let slip through our fingers, but it’s a good team over there. Don’t sell them short.”