OTTAWA — Not many teams have been able to bludgeon the Rangers the way the Senators did Tuesday night.
With a surplus of odd-man rushes, puck battles won and goals, Ottawa just kept coming to hand the Blueshirts a 6-2 loss at Canadian Tire Center.
The Rangers left Igor Shesterkin out to dry on too many occasions, but the Russian netminder was not as sharp as he’s to be.
With 29 saves on 34 shots, Shesterkin fell to 10-5-0 on the season.
Opposing netminder Anton Forsberg, on the other hand, was stellar.
The Rangers, particularly Alexis Lafreniere, were robbed of quite a few goals by the Senators’ goalie, who finished with 33 saves on 35 shots.
Playing their third game in four nights, the Rangers were down to 11 forwards by the end of the first period after Barclay Goodrow took a puck directly to the face and went to the locker room.
He lost a tooth or two, but it was enough to keep the utility forward out for the remainder of the game.
This wasn’t a matter of personnel or tiredness, however, it was a lack of fluidity, puck pursuit and overall engagement.
The Rangers were pretty loose on defense and lacked some oomph on offense.
Ottawa broke the game open in the second period with three goals to the Rangers’ two, after the home team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes.
Former Ranger Vladimir Tarasenko enjoyed a three-point night, including a crucial tally just over five minutes into the middle frame to make it a 3-1 game and a nail-in-the-coffin empty-net goal at the end of the game.
Tarasenko’s first goal was in response to Artemi Panarin’s power-play score early in the second period, which cut Ottawa’s lead to 2-1 and set the Rangers up for another comeback.
The Senators had a strong answer for each of the Rangers’ goals.
After K’Andre Miller kept the Rangers in it with a goal 22 seconds after Tarasenko’s, Ottawa capped off the period with a goal from Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk’s second goal of the night.
Just after the visitors effectively killed off the Senators’ first power play in the first period, Tkachuk notched his first by getting a stick on a hard-hit shot from the point for the 1-0 lead at the 11:00 mark.
Both Braden Schneider and Erik Gustafsson battled with the Ottawa captain in front for a bit, but he wasn’t challenged by either on the goal.
Claude Giroux then hunted down a puck that went off the end boards and slammed in a wraparound goal through Shesterkin to double Ottawa’s lead.