Senators Take Down New York Rangers 6-2 Tuesday Night

The Ottawa Senators beat the best team in the league on Tuesday night, taking down the New York Rangers 6-2 at the Canadian Tire Centre. Brady Tkachuk and Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice in what was arguably the Senators' most complete performance of the season. Anton Forsberg was spectacular in a 33-save outing.

The game was a track meet, and the Senators got off to a good start, keeping the Rangers at bay and limiting their shots to the outside.

After some impressive cycling in the Rangers zone, Tkachuk opened the scoring, tipping home an Artem Zub pointshot. Claude Giroux made it 2-0 Senators near the end of the first period with a crafty wraparound goal. Igor Shesterkin made the initial save, but Giroux quickly buried the rebound.

Early in the second on the power play, the Rangers got on the board via Artemi Panarin's seeing-eye shot that found its way past Forsberg's blocker.

But the Senators counterpunched quickly, with a goal from Vladimir Tarasenko, who snapped his 13-game goalless streak. The Russian veteran took a smart pass from Drake Batherson in the neutral zone, setting up a 2-on-1. Tarasenko ripped a wrist shot past Shesterkin to make it 3-1.

Twenty-two seconds later, after Forsberg made an unbelievable left pad save on Alexis Lafreniere, no one picked up K'Andre Miller, who potted the rebound and got the Rangers back to within one.

The trading of goals didn't stop there. 1:43 later, a Ranger giveaway at the far end created another Tarasenko-led 2-on-1. He shot into Shesterkin's pads, and Batherson shoveled home the rebound.

Jakob Chychrun had one of the game's defensive highlights, playing goalie and saving a sure goal by swatting a puck out of the air that was heading into the net.

Tkachuk scored again to make it 5-2 Senators when Zub's whiffed slapshot caromed off the boards right to Tkachuk at the side of the net. He lifted the puck over Shesterkin, who was out of position anticipating Zub's slap shot.

Early in the third period, the Rangers went on a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:25. Forsberg stood tall, making multiple stops, including one on a cross-seam play where he made a huge sliding save on Vincent Trocheck. 

For a moment on the 5 on 3, after a Ranger miscue, Mathieu Joseph seemed all alone on a shorthanded breakaway, but Shesterskin rushed out to the blue line, beating Joseph to the puck. 

The Senators crowd went wild after they killed off the 5 on 3, allowing only one shot.

The Senators finished the game with an empty netter by Tarasenko for his second goal of the night to cap the 6-2 Senators win.

DJ Smith was happy with the win and feels like the Senators are playing better hockey.

"I think that's nine good periods in a row for us," he said. "We're starting to have a little bit of consistency."

Smith spoke about how his top two lines won the Senators the game.

"I just thought I thought Norris's line was so good defensively," Smith said. "And Josh was winning draws today which gives us the puck right away. Timmy, Drake, and Vlad are capable of big plays; it was great to see Vlad score. You get your top six to roll like that, and you'll win some games."

Tkachuk echoed his coach's comments about the forwards' play on Tuesday.

"Not just our (top) two lines," Tkachuk said. "But when everybody's feeling good about themselves, about their game, we're a tough team to handle."

Tarasenko was happy to finally end his goalless streak, not to mention scoring on his good friend and former teammate, Igor Shesterkin.

The Senators return to .500 with a record of 10-10-0 on the season. They'll host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre in the second installment of the Battle of Ontario. The Senators thumped the Leafs 6-3 in their last meeting on November 9th.

By the numbers: Brady Tkachuk is now tied for the most multi-goal games in the NHL with six this season.