Ottawa Senators level Quarterfinal Series with 3-2 overtime win past New York Rangers -NHL Playoffs
Despite not having captain, Daniel Alfredsson, on the squad to lead, Ottawa Senators made a major comeback and levelled the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Playoffs Quarterfinal series against New York Rangers with a 3-2 win in overtime on
Wednesday, April 18, 2012, at the sold-out Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
New York might have dominated the contest in the opening 20 minutes and was determined to put Ottawa on the verge of elimination, but Senators were not about to give up anytime soon.
"We've got so much character in this room and that led us through," Ottawa’s Kyle 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."
After letting two goals go through by Anton Stralman and Ryan Callahan, both surprisingly on power play advantages as Zack Smith went out in the opening 39 seconds while Erik Karlsson was called for tripping five minutes later, Senators goalie, Craig Anderson,
went into lockdown mode.
Anderson made 31 saves on 33 attempts along with totally shutting out New York in the remaining time.
Matt Carkner found Milan Michalek open in front of the net on a turnover breakaway for Ottawa’s first of the night. Gonchar made the miraculous equaliser for them as he was fed the puck to force the overtime extension on an added man advantage with New York
missing Artem Anisimov.
"They had a good second period and we made it a little tougher on ourselves taking all the penalties," said Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist. "They got some confidence on the power play and were moving the puck. They felt good about themselves and building
their game from there.”
Kyle Turris emerged as the savior for Ottawa as the young forward fired off his first of the postseason, making it the game-winner 2:42 into overtime.
Playing and winning without Daniel Alfredsson has definitely given Ottawa the strength and courage needed to win some big games.
A tough game 5 competition should be expected between Senators and Rangers as the series heads back to New York on Saturday, April 21.
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