New York Rangers down Ottawa Senators 4-2 in Eastern Conference Playoff Quarterfinals opening game
Ottawa might have dominated New York during the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season by winning three of four matchups but Rangers fought back and dominated senators in the playoff Eastern Conference quarterfinals game-one, 4-2, Thursday
night, April 12, 2012, at the sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York.
The 18,000 plus crowd was scrutinising Ottawa at their every single move which had the Canadian players confused a number of times, allowing New York to take advantage.
Ryan Callahan potted the first of the night 12:01 into the opening period followed by a strong second period rally by Marian Gaborik and Brian Boyle during the final four minutes.
Brad Richards finalised the match with his insurance shot at 2:15 of the third while Ottawa attempted at making a late comeback with two of their own sponsored by captain Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Condra.
With less than three minutes remaining, Ottawa pushed the puck towards the New York defensive end but to no use as New York had taken too big of a lead.
"It was a pretty even game, but then we got off our game plan for a few minutes and it's 4-0," Spezza said. "We have to build off what we did in the third period.’
Making New York Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, work more in the next game will definitely be one of Ottawa’s top priorities.
"We have to get more traffic in front of Lundqvist," Spezza added. "They are going to block a lot of shots. When he can see it, he's one of the best."
Seeing how Ottawa did not manage to come out scoring, losing was inevitable. Securing an early lead is always helpful down the road.
"The last four or five minutes we give up a couple goals and again early in the third," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "Take away those six minutes and we're pretty happy with how we played the game.”
Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers will be facing off for game two of the 2012 NHL playoff quarterfinals on Saturday, April 14. Winning in the Madison Square Garden in game two will definitely be an advantage as the next two will be back in Ottawa.
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