NEW YORK (AP) The Senators didn’t have their best start, yet after spotting the New York Rangers an early goal, Ottawa dominated the rest of the way and earned their first road win this season.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored twice and Anders Nilsson stopped 32 shots as the Senators routed the Rangers 6-2 on Monday night.
Tyler Ennis, Ron Hainsey, Brady Tkachuk and former Ranger Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Senators, who have four victories in 13 games. Ottawa also snapped the Rangers’ two-game winning streak, scoring twice on the power-play after they had only two power-play goals in their first 12 games overall this season.
”They came out flying in first 10 minutes, really pushed us back but it was nice to see our response,” said Nilsson, who won for the second time this season. ”We kind of took over the game and turned the momentum.”
Rookie Kaapo Kakko opened the scoring for the Rangers with his third goal at 8:47 of the first period. Kakko accepted a pass from defenseman Adam Fox before backhanding the puck past Nilsson. Brendan Lemieux also assisted.
Pageau tied the contest at 14:56 of the first, assisted by former Ranger Anthony Duclair.
Ennis put Ottawa ahead with a power-play goal at 18:31 while the Senators were on a 5-on-3 advantage. Thomas Chabot and Namestnikov assisted on Ennis’ third. It was the third power-play goal of the season for Ottawa, which entered the contest 2 for 42 with a man-advantage.
The teams played a feisty first period with several skirmishes and two fights. Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo fought Ottawa’s J.C. Beaudin, and Lemieux battled Senators’ defenseman Mark Borowiecki.
But the fisticuffs did little to inspire the Rangers, who didn’t exhibit the same zip displayed in their two most recent games, solid wins over Tampa Bay and Nashville. It was a clear case of the Rangers playing down to their opponent, as Ottawa entered the contest with a league-worst seven points in 12 games.
”We didn’t respect our opponent enough. We just continued to dig ourselves a deeper hole,” Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. ”Going up 1-0, you’d think we’d stick to the script better than this.”
The Senators outshot the Rangers 14-11 in the first period. The Rangers had a 12-10 advantage in the second, but the Senators scored three times against Alexandar Georgiev.
Hainsey, the 38-year-old defenseman, made it 3-1 with his first of the season at 4:12, one second after a hooking penalty to Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba expired.
Pageau, who had a four-goal playoff performance against the Rangers in 2017, netted his second goal of the contest and fifth of the season racing on a breakaway at 11:43 of the middle period. Brady Tkachuk made it 5-1 for the Senators with his fourth at 14:56.
”Luckily I scored,” Pageau said of his breakaway score. ”My stick was broken and I just realized that when I got to the bench. I guess my shot is not too hard.
Artemi Panarin cut the deficit to 5-2 with a power-play goal for the Rangers at 17:34 of the second, with assists to Kakko and DeAngelo. Panarin extended his points streak to five games with his team-best sixth goal of the season.
Namestnikov then made it 6-2 for Ottawa with another power-play goal at 5:35 of the third to complete the scoring. The 26-year-old Russian forward has five goals and four assists in 11 games with Ottawa since his trade from the Rangers on Oct. 7. He scored 13 goals in 99 games with the Rangers.
”Tonight we were the better team out there,” added Pageau, an Ottawa native in his eighth season with the Senators. ”Everyone showed up.”
Georgiev started his third straight game in goal for the Rangers after impressive wins over the Lightning and Predators, allowing one goal in both. Henrik Lundqvist, who last played in a 7-4 loss to Boston on Oct. 27, figures to return for the next game, on Wednesday against Detroit.
”They got one goal and everything broke down for some reason,” Georgiev said.
The Senators were coming off a 5-2 defeat at Boston on Saturday. They had only 10 goals in their five road losses before scoring six against the Rangers.
For the third-straight game, the Rangers dressed seven players 21 years old or younger – Kakko and fellow forwards Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, Brett Howden plus defensemen Libor Hajek, Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren.
”That first 11 minutes, they thought it would be easy,” Rangers coach David Quinn said after his team’s lackluster performance. ”Give Ottawa credit. They upped the ante. They were competing and battling and it cost us severely.”
NOTES: The Rangers scratched defenseman Marc Staal for the third straight game, plus forward Greg McKegg and Mika Zibanejad, who missed his third straight game with an upper body injury. … Senators forward and former Ranger Anthony Duclair played his 300th career game. … The Senators scratched forward Artem Ansimov and defenseman Cody Goloubef. … The Rangers won the previous meeting 4-1 at Ottawa on Oct. 5 when Zibanejad recorded a hat trick. … The teams meet again Nov. 22 in Ottawa.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Host Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
Senators: Visit New York Islanders on Tuesday.
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