Pageau's 4th goal lifts Senators in 2nd OT
OTTAWA -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau's fourth goal of the game 2:54 into double overtime gave the Ottawa Senators a 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.
The win gives the Senators a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series, which shifts to New York for Game 3 on Tuesday.
Pageau scored his second and third goals in the final 3:19 of regulation time. He started the comeback by deflecting a Zack Smith shot and completed his hat trick with a tip of a Kyle Smith shot 62 seconds from the buzzer with goaltender Craig Anderson on the bench for an extra attacker.
Defenseman Marc Methot and Mark Stone also scored for the Senators, who erased two-goal deficits on three occasions.
Rookie defenseman Brady Skjei led the Rangers with two goals while Michael Grabner, Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan scored the others.
Both goalies had their moments of weakness early on. Anderson wound up making 43 saves while Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots.
The Senators lost veteran winger Clarke MacArthur when he took a shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Ryan McDonagh in the first. MacArthur only played two shifts in the second before leaving the game.
Stone's goal 1:28 into the third, off a fortuitous bounce off the end boards, cut New York's lead to 4-3. But Skjei restored the two-goal margin with a play that he started in his own zone.
Moments after breaking up a Stone pass as the lone Ranger back on a 3-on-1, Skjei beat Anderson with a point shot at the 5:10 mark.
New York built its early lead with the help of two short-handed goals.
The Senators survived a Derick Brassard high-sticking penalty early in the overtime. They also dodged a bullet when Kyle Turris stopped Rick Nash after Anderson was caught behind the net.
Skjei made a great play to steal the puck from Turris on a semi-break a little later. Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh saved a sure goal by Ryan Dzingel in the final minute of the first overtime when he got the shaft of his stick on a shot headed for the open side.
Kreider put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 10:39 of the second period, just after the Senators had finished killing a penalty to Stone, with a shot through a crowd from the left circle. It was his fourth of the playoffs.
Stepan scored New York's second short-handed goal of the game at the 13:10 mark, beating Anderson with a shot to the glove side on an odd-man rush. It was his second of the playoffs.
Methot's first in more than a year brought the Senators to within one at the 14-minute mark. He flipped home a loose puck after Mike Hoffman drove to the net with a chance.
But Skjei restored the two-goal lead with a harmless looking shot from the point on which Anderson appeared to be screened at 15:51 of the period.
As was the case in Game 6 in their first-round series with the Boston Bruins, the Senators had the first three power plays of the game, all in the opening period, and once again they failed to produce a shot on goal with any of them.
Grabner's third goal of the playoffs, at 4:16 of the first, came with Ottawa on its first power play after Stone had the puck slip by him in the offensive zone. Jesper Fast teed Grabner up for a one-timer and he whipped it home by Anderson's outstretched glove off the ensuing 2-on-1.
Pageau tied the game at the 13:59 mark on a harmless looking rush, beating Lundqvist on the short side from the side of the right wing faceoff circle. The goal was Pageau's second of the playoffs.
Despite taking the only three penalties of the opening 20 minutes, the Rangers outshot the Senators 9-6.
NOTES: Jean-Gabriel Pageau's hat trick was the second of career in playoff action. He also had one against the Montreal Canadiens on May 5, 2013. ... The goal by Senators D Marc Methot was his first since Mar. 19, 2016. ... Rangers LW Michael Grabner scored his first career short-handed goal in the opening period. He has 13 regular season shorties in his career. ... The Rangers made no lineup changes from Game 1. ... Senators LW Tom Pyatt has officially been cleared to return from injuries suffered in Game 4 of the first round series with Boston, but coach Guy Boucher elected not to tinker with a winning lineup on Saturday. That means Senators D Chris Wideman, who played 76 games during the regular season and the first five against the Bruins, was scratched for a third consecutive time.