Game three between the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers was played at Maddison Square Garden, Tuesday night after a two day gap since Saturday’s game at the Canadian Tyre Centre, which saw the Senators go in to a 2-0 series lead.
Mats Zuccarello started things off for the Rangers after Dan Girardi passed forward to Mika Zibanejad. Zibanejad went around behind the Senators goal under pressure, and from his knees managed a pass to centre, which was fired past Craig Anderson by 
Zuccarello.
Zuccarello picked up a point later in the period too, his pass down the boards was picked up behind the goal by Michael Grabner, who caught Anderson out of position and a gap at the post.
The second period started a bit slower, but did contain some penalties. At 2:59, Ryan Dzingel sat two minutes for concealing the puck, but less than a minute later Chris Kreider’s slash on Dion Phaneuf saw Kreider head to the penalty box too.
The Rangers made it 3-0 though, when coming out of their zone the Senators were a bit slow to get back, Derek Stepan heading fast through the neutral zone with just Marc Methot between him and Anderson, with Rick Nash in support. A quick pass in front of Methot, and Nash used the space to line up and send a wrist shot in to the goal.
With less than two minutes in the period, J.T. Miller was by the face off circle in the Senators zone, holding the puck and tying up the defence. Taking the puck towards the goal, Oscar Lindberg had got in to position by the back post, a quick pass from Miller and all Lindberg had to do was tap it home, which he did, making the game 4-0 to the Rangers.
The Senators managed a consolation seconds later, with Bobby Ryan receiving the puck behind the Rangers goal, and has he headed out one way sending the puck behind him to an oncoming Jean-Gabriel Pagueau who took advantage of Henrik Lundqvist over at one side of the goal, managing to bring it back to 4-1 just in time for the break.
A smattering of penalties throughout the third period, but no goals meant that the Rangers took the game in front of their home crowd, with a convincing 4-1 win.
Lundqvist stopped 26 shots on the night, which, despite the score, was matched by Anderson in the Senators goal.
“To be honest, they started a lot more desperate than us and they continued to push and we couldn’t catch up,” Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf said. “When you chase the game, especially against a really good hockey team, you’re chasing the game and you’re digging out the whole time and that’s what happened to us tonight.”
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said “I think the extra day off was very beneficial for us, both mentally and physically. I felt that we played well in Ottawa and probably deserved better. It didn’t happen. That’s part of hockey. We came to play and won this game. Now we’ve got to focus on the next one.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Rangers highlights | RELATED: Complete New York vs. Ottawa series coverage]
Echoing the coach’s thoughts, Stepan said “Come tomorrow, it doesn’t mean anything. We have to move to Game 4. We’re still down in the series 2-1. We did a lot of good things that can help our confidence, but after tonight it doesn’t mean anything. All that matters now is that it’s 2-1 and we go to Game 4.”
Game 4 will be played Thursday night, Maddison Square Garden, New York.
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