Senators 3, Rangers 2
Captain Jason Spezza scored his 20th goal midway through the second period and Robin Lehner made 41 saves as visiting Ottawa prevented New York from clinching a postseason berth.
Mika Zibanejad netted his third goal in four contests and Mark Stone also tallied for the Senators, who moved within five points of Columbus for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa has four games remaining on its schedule.
Mats Zuccarello scored twice and Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 31 shots for the Rangers, who fell to 7-2-1 in their last 10 but remained four points ahead of third-place Philadelphia in the Metropolitan Division. New York needs one more point to clinch a playoff berth.
Stone wristed a shot from the inner edge of the right faceoff circle that beat Lundqvist over his glove 12:45 into the first period to open the scoring. Zibanejad doubled the advantage less than five minutes later as he skated into the slot and wristed a shot off the left shoulder of Lundqvist and into the net.
Zuccarello's deflection of defenseman John Moore's shot 5:25 into the second halved the deficit, but Spezza regained the two-goal advantage three minutes later by diving to jam home a loose puck. Zuccarello added his second by deflecting blue-liner Marc Staal's blast at 11:55, but New York failed to net the equalizer.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Zuccarello's 57 points are the most accumulated this season by a member of the Rangers. RW Martin St. Louis has more points (65) but recorded all but four with Tampa Bay. ... New York LW Benoit Pouliot notched an assist on Zuccarello's first goal to extend his point streak to five games. ... Rangers C Dominic Moore played in his 600th NHL game.