Lindberg scores twice as Rangers rout Senators
NEW YORK -- In a second straight dominating performance, the New York Rangers defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
The best-of-seven playoff set is even at two games apiece with Game 5 set for Saturday afternoon in Ottawa.
Fourth-liner Oscar Lindberg sparked the Rangers by scoring a pair of goals, giving him three in the past two games. Goals by defenseman Nick Holden in the first period and Chris Kreider in the third sandwiched those by Lindberg in the second.
Rugged winger Tanner Glass picked up a pair of assists and led all skaters with seven hits.
As was the case in Tuesday's 4-1 Rangers victory, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was barely tested by a Senators team that struggled mightily to generate much offensive zone time at all. Lundqvist made 22 saves, allowing only a late third period goal by Kyle Turris.
Senators goalie Craig Anderson was lifted from the game after two periods of play, replaced by Mike Condon after surrendering three goals on 20 shots. He was joined by captain Erik Karlsson off the ice as the stalwart defenseman did not play in the third period.
Holden slipped behind a hobbling Karlsson on an odd-man rush, accepted a perfect lead pass from Kevin Hayes, and proceeded to beat Anderson over the right pad for his first goal of the postseason at 14:04.
Michael Grabner set up Lindberg's first 2:01 into the second period. On his second breakaway of the game -- he was denied only 82 seconds in by Anderson's blocker -- Grabner opted against shooting and instead dropped a pass to Lindberg, who was also ahead of the Senators defense, for an easy finish.
Then, at 15:54, Lindberg floated a shot from the left wing that somehow eluded Anderson after a strong forecheck by Glass and J.T. Miller to give New York a three-goal advantage.
NOTES: The home team has won all four games. ... The Rangers scored first in each game while the Senators have led for a total of only 4:11 in the series. ... The Rangers have outscored the opposition 14-4 during the second period this postseason. ... The Senators made two lineup changes, with D Chris Wideman and C Tom Pyatt each appearing in his first game of the series, in the place of D Fredrik Claesson and C Tommy Wingels. ... The Rangers did not make any changes to their lineup.