Rangers get back in series with dominating win vs. Sens
NEW YORK -- Mats Zuccarello scored the first of four consecutive Rangers goals as New York rolled to a 4-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 of their second-round series at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Senators hold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series that will resume at MSG on Thursday.
Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and Oscar Lindberg also scored for the Rangers, who bounced back after losing 6-5 in overtime to Ottawa in Game 2.
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 shots.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who had four goals in Game 2, including the overtime winner, had the Senators' lone goal.
Craig Anderson was shaky in net for the Senators, allowing four goals on 30 shots.
The Rangers dominated the first 20 minutes, outshooting Ottawa 15-5, and were rewarded with two goals.
Zuccarello scored his fourth of the playoffs at 5:31 to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. He took a pass from Mika Zibanejad and beat Anderson to the stick side.
Grabner took advantage of an Anderson gaffe to make it 2-0 at 13:24. Zuccarello played the puck behind the net and Anderson decided to leave his crease to get it. He misjudged the pace of the puck, however, allowing Grabner to gather it and stuff it into the open net before Anderson could get back to his crease.
Nash increased the lead to 3-0 at 12:21 of the second period. Derek Stepan and Nash had a 2-on-1 that ended with a pass to Nash, who snapped a shot off Anderson's right arm and into the net.
J.T. Miller was the catalyst on the Rangers' fourth goal, driving to the net through a slew of Senators and feeding Lindberg for the tap-in goal on the doorstep that made it 4-0 with 1:43 remaining in the period.
Pageau's fifth goal in two games got the Senators on the board 32 seconds later. Bobby Ryan made a great no-look pass from behind the net to Pageau, who slipped inside the near-side post with Lundqvist out of position to make it 4-1.
NOTES: Senators C Zack Smith (upper body) left the game in the first period and did not return. He played just three shifts. ... Senators RW Bobby Ryan went to the locker room midway through the third period after he was hit with a shot. He did not return. ... The Senators have used the same lineup in all three games of the series. ... Rangers LW Tanner Glass, who had been a healthy scratch the past five games, returned to the lineup. He replaced LW Pavel Buchnevich. ... The Rangers have won three straight games at MSG. It is the first time they have done that since Feb. 9-19.