NEW YORK – The New York Rangers were just five minutes away from taking a 2-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators in their Eastern Conference quarter final. Instead, the Senators used a late third period goal from Nick Foligno and an overtime marker from Chris Neil to earn a 3-2 victory and tie the series at one game apiece.
“That was huge for us,” said Senators goaltender Craig Anderson to the Ottawa Citizen. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we got the series tied, so it’s heading in the right direction.”
The game had a wild opening, with Senators defenseman Matt Carkner attacking Rangers forward Brian Boyle just over two minutes into the first period. Carkner dropped his gloves and started throwing punches at an unsuspecting Boyle, who fell to the ice but continued to receive punches from the Ottawa defender. The incident was reportedly sparked by Boyle’s rough treatment of Senators’ defenseman Erik Karlsson in game one of the series.
New York’s Brandon Dubinksy quickly intervened in the Carkner-Boyle dustup, and from there players from both teams joined the fray. The end result was game misconduct penalties for Carkner and Dubinsky and a five-minute power play for the Rangers.
Ottawa managed to kill the major penalty, only to watch Anton Stralman put the Rangers up 1-0 with a power play goal later in the period. The Senators tied the game at one with a power play goal from Karlsson mid-way through the second frame.
Boyle restored New York’s lead with a goal just 2:41 into the third period and it appeared the Rangers were on their way to a game two victory. However, just when it looked as though the Senators were beaten, Foligno gave them new life by lifting a shot over Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist with 4:37 left in the third to tie the game at two.
The Senators carried the momentum into overtime, with Neil picking up a rebound in front of the Rangers net and beating Lundqvist with a back hander to give Ottawa a 3-2 win.
“I lost track of the puck,” Lundqvist said of the scramble to the Globe and Mail. “There are going to be bad bounces, but you just move on.”
Lundqvist made 29 saves in net for the Rangers, while Anderson stopped 27 shots in Ottawa’s crease.
With the series tied at 1-1, game three will go Monday night in Ottawa.
Contact Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
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