Senators book spot in Eastern final with win over Rangers

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It seemed such a strange thing to say, especially for a professional athlete who is also the captain of his team.

"We're going to do a good job regardless of whether we win or not."

Erik Karlsson was obviously thinking of the Ottawa Senators' earlier matches at Madison Square Garden, when the hometown New York Rangers had humiliated Ottawa in two lopsided 4-1 playoff games.

The Senators got their "good job" and they finally got a victory in New York, outscoring the Rangers 4-2, with Karlsson the best player on the ice and the one who would, appropriately, score the winning goal. "Our captain was the best man on the ice," Derik Brassard said.

The Senators will now move on to the Eastern Conference final, meeting either the Washington Capitals or the Pittsburgh Penguins, who will decide their semi-final series with a Game 7 Wednesday night in Washington. The next series, Ottawa's first trip to the conference final since 2007, would begin Saturday.

Despite the Rangers' previous home-ice domination of the Senators, there had been much talk in the New York sports media and talk shows about players "showing up" and "missing in action."

New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey even issued a public apology Tuesday for failing to show up at a Mets weekend game, saying he was "embarrassed" at missing curfew the night before and then golfing in the morning before a game.

Rangers accused of not showing up in this Eastern Conference semi-final included three stalwarts, Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider, as well as team captain Ryan McDonagh.

"When he's on top of his game he's one of the best two-way defencemen in the league," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said. "We need him to be at the top of his game."

The sputtering New York power play, a meagre 2-for-20 heading into the match – 2-for-24 by the end of the game – seemed disorganized and reluctant, with fans screaming "SHOOOOT!" every time a puck came near a player in position to score.

But Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson was very solid this night, almost always in position and allowing very few rebounds.

Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher had repeatedly spoken of the importance of having a good start, particularly in the opening 10 minutes of play. In Ottawa's previous failures in Games 3 and 4, the Rangers had taken over the game early on and never relinquished their hold on the Senators.

This night had to be different, Boucher said, and it was.

"We expect their very best and the most urgency you can imagine," Boucher said shortly before the players took to the ice. "We don't expect them to be giving us anything. What we get, we need to get ourselves."

They did just that. Less than five minutes into the game, Mike Hoffman scored his fourth of the postseason when he tipped a Karlsson drive from the point past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. It was only the second shot of the game for the Senators.

Former Ranger Derick Brassard was given a four-minute penalty for cutting Mats Zuccarello with a high stick, but the Rangers could mount little threat against Anderson.

Lundqvist was mostly in good form early, at one point stopping a Karlsson drive from the slot while flat on his back.

Closing in on the 15-minute mark of the first period, however, Mark Stone came over the New York blueline and fired a hard wrist shot that beat Lundqvist to the blocker side. For Stone, who has struggled against the Rangers, it was also his fourth goal of the playoffs.

"We got the start that we wanted," a relieved Karlsson said.

The Rangers were roundly booed off the ice when the opening period finally wound down.

It was certainly not the start Vigneault wanted.

"The only way we're going to win tonight is if all of us come together and play a real strong game," he said.

He had hoped the energy of the crowd "rubs off," but in the end, it was his players rubbing their fans the wrong way.

Ottawa went into its expected defensive shell in the second period, hoping to hold a 2-0 lead. They had lost such leads before this spring and this time it seemed again possible when, at the 13:32 mark, Zuccarello sent former Senator Mika Zibanejad on a clear breakaway and Zibanejad beat Anderson on the glove side. It was Zibanejad's second of the playoffs.

Just more than two minutes later, however, the Senators restored their lead when Karlsson broke down the ice, slipped a pass to Bobby Ryan moving fast down the left boards, who then sent a sweet return pass to Karlsson, who easily scored with a shot to Lundqvist's blocker side. The Ottawa goaltender was awarded an assist on the play.

"When they came back and cut the lead, we didn't panic," added Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the hero of the Ottawa home games.

With their season on the line, the Rangers came out strong in the third period. Only 53 seconds in, Kreider blew past Ottawa defender Cody Ceci and beat Anderson with a quick shot to the stick side.

For Kreider, it was his third goal of the playoffs and offered some redemption for the criticism he had taken during this second round against the Senators. Kreider, in fact, has always been a force in games in which his team has faced elimination, now scoring nine goals and three assists in the 20 games where the Rangers had to win a playoff series or else.

Kreider had a marvellous opportunity to tie the game when Zibanejad hit him with a perfect pass and Kreider tried to go high on Anderson, but fanned on his shot.

With the Senators spending most of the third period desperately trying to hold the lead, and beginning to panic – "We're exhausted," Clarke MacArthur said afterward. "They gave us everything they could." – they took hockey's worst penalty, too many men on the ice, but New York's pitiful power play was unable to seize the moment.

With less than seven minutes left in the game, Stepan had the best chance of his night, only to be turned aside by Anderson.

With time running out, Vigneault pulled Lundqvist and Pageau scored on the empty net.

Karlsson had delivered exactly as promised: "A good job."

And a win.