Ottawa in East finals for 1st time since ’07
NEW YORK — Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators showed off their toughness in the third period. The Rangers pushed and pushed, but the resilient Senators held off New York — all the way to their first Eastern Conference finals 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 in Game 6 of their second-round series Tuesday night.
“We knew they were going to come back with a real good push,” Ottawa 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 cut its deficit to 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 Finals in 2007, will face Pittsburgh or Washington in the next round. Their series will be decided in Game 7 on Wednesday night.
Mika Zibanejad also scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist had 22 saves.
“We had a lot of chances that I think we let slip through our fingers,” New York center Derek Stepan said, “but it’s a good team over there. Don’t sell them short. They battled real hard, they played real strong games, and they had that magic. Sometimes you’ve got to have a little bit of that.”
Kreider had a chance to tie it a little more than five minutes into the third, but didn’t get a clean shot on a pass from Zibanejad. 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 five minutes left.
“Right now, all you feel is disappointment, and it’s a numb feeling,” Lundqvist said. “You realize how much work and how many hours you put into this to put yourself in this spot to get this chance.” Vin A. Cherwoo is an Associated Press writer.