Senators nab home ice for 1st round of playoffs
OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by defeating the New York Rangers 3-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Hoffman, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and former Ranger Derick Brassard scored on Henrik Lundqvist, who faced 33 shots. Former Senator Mika Zibanejad broke Craig Anderson's shutout with the last of 19 shots -- a wraparound with 46 seconds left.
The Senators (44-27-10) clinched second place in the Atlantic Division and will start the playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre against either the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Rangers (47-28-6) rested a number of veterans and went with a skeleton lineup Saturday as they were already locked into playing the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
Before Zibanejad's 14th goal, Pageau deflected a Mark Borowiecki point shot at 6:19 of the third period to put the Senators up 3-0. The goal was Pageau's 11th of the season.
Ottawa outshot the Rangers 16-5 in the second period, when it scored the first two goals of the game.
Hoffman broke the ice with his 26th at the 3:04 mark, firing a shot over a sprawled Lundqvist after taking a Mark Stone pass.
Brassard took a drop pass from Viktor Stalberg before beating Lundqvist with a low short-side shot at 9:24. It was his 14th.
The shots on goal were 4-4 in a scoreless first period.
NOTES: The long list of Rangers scratches consisted of D Marc Staal, RW Jesper Fast, C Derek Stepan, D Nick Holden, D Ryan McDonagh, LW Mats Zuccarello and LW Rick Nash. ... The Senators' healthy scratches were C Colin White, C Chris DiDomenico, D Jyrki Jokipakka and RW Chris Neil, while missing the game while dealing with injuries were D Erik Karlsson, D Marc Methot, RW Bobby Ryan and C Zack Smith. ... The Senators hit the road for their last game of the season Sunday against the New York Islanders. ... The Rangers host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.