The Shadow
OTTAWA (AP) – The opportunistic Ottawa Senators find themselves tied 2-2 with the New York Rangers without ever leading in regulation play.
Kyle Turris scored at 2:42 of overtime to give Ottawa a 3-2 victory Wednesday night, the Senators’ second extra-period win in the Eastern Conference series.
Turris, acquired from Phoenix during the season, took a drop pass from Jim O’Brien and snapped a wrist shot past Henrik Lundqvist’s glove from the left faceoff circle.
“I’ve just lived every kid’s Stanley Cup dream,” Turris said. “It was a great play by O’Brien. It was kind of a long shift in our zone and right when he got it I was actually thinking of changing, but I saw it was a 2-on-2. I just tried to use the (defenseman) as a screen to get it on net.”
In Game 2 in New York, Chris Neil scored in overtime for Ottawa.
“It’s frustrating to lose in overtime, but there were some good things,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “I think we still need some more guys involved, but it was two overtimes, the series is 2-2 and we’re going back home.”
The Senators ended a seven-game home playoff winless streak.
“We’ve got so much character in this room and that led us through,” Turris said. “We rallied and tried to put pressure on them and chip away at their lead. It’s exciting. It’s a confidence builder and something to move forward on.”
Game 5 is Saturday night in New York.
Milan Michalek and Sergei Gonchar scored in the second period for the Senators to erase a 2-0 deficit, and Craig Anderson stopped 31 shots.
“They had a good second period and we made it a little tougher on ourselves taking all the penalties,” said Lundqvist, who made 28 saves. “They got some confidence on the power play and were moving the puck. They felt good about themselves and building their game from there. We regrouped and played really well in the third and did some good things but it wasn’t enough.”
Anton Stralman and Ryan Callahan had power-plays goals early in the first period for the Rangers, coming off a 1-0 victory in Game 3.
“We’ve had good starts and they’re a good team, but we just need to find a way to win in overtime. That’s what it comes down to,” Rangers defenseman Marc Staal said. “We took a string of penalties in the second and that hurt our momentum a little bit. They’ve got a good power play and we’ve got to stay out of the box. We let them back in the game.”
