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You watch the Ottawa Senators play against the New York Rangers and you see what it takes to be a first-place team and how far the Senators have to go to be at an elite level.
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While the shots on goal weren’t that slanted in New York’s favour in Monday’s game, the Rangers were the better team. Clearly.
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And you didn’t need to see the score — 4-0 for New York — to figure that out.
The game had plenty of meaning for the Rangers, who, with the win, clinched top spot in the NHL, giving them the Presidents’ Trophy and guaranteeing them home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
There’s just one game left in the Senators’ season; they’ll finish Tuesday night in Boston against the Bruins. A playoff possibility is long in the rear-view mirror.
When the Senators had good scoring chances Monday, they were turned aside by Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.
It’s not like Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo had an off night. The Rangers had plenty of great scoring opportunities.
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The Rangers took a 1-0 lead 5:55 into the game. Artem Zub was stripped of the puck, giving the Rangers a 2-on-1, with Jack Roslovic knocking a Chris Kreider pass past Korpisalo.
The Rangers struck short-handed 8:58 into the second period. Former Senator Mika Zibanejad got the play started, then defenceman Adam Fox tipped in a Chris Kreider pass to make it 2-0 for the home side.
After some good scoring chances for the Senators early in the third period, the Rangers made it 3-0 on a redirect from The Bread Man, Artemi Panarin, his 49th goal of the season.
The Rangers’ skill was on display on their fourth goal with seven minutes left. It was a nice three-way passing play: Panarin to Erik Gustafsson to Lafreniere, who drilled a one-timer past Korpisalo.
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The Rangers were given a penalty shot with 4:29 left, when Jimmy Vesey was hooked on a breakaway. Vesey missed.
RINK WRAP
It looked like Rangers’ tough guy Matt Rempe, who has quickly developed a reputation with his fists, turned down an invitation from Senators’ Boko Imama to drop the gloves early in the first period. Late in the game after Rempe took a tripping penalty, Brady Tkachuk delivered a big hit on the big man … Mathieu Joseph made a terrific play on the penalty kill late in the first period, nearly resulting in an Ottawa goal … With 2.4 seconds left in the period, the Rangers won a faceoff to the left of Korpisalo and came very close to scoring … Korpisalo robbed Alexis Lafreniere from in close a bit more than five minutes into the second period. Just before that, Jakob Chychrun nicely broke up a Rangers 3-on-1 .. A bit of embellishment from Shesterkin after he was brushed by Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk late in the second period.
ICE CHIPS
As a Sidney Crosby fan growing up not far from New York City, Senators centre Shane Pinto saw several Pittsburgh Penguins game at Madison Square Garden, one of the NHL’s most historic arenas. Asked about playing in the rink, he said earlier in the day: “If you can’t get going in this rink, you have a problem.” … Ridly Greig missed the morning skate with an illness, but was back for the game, playing between Claude Giroux and Mathieu Joseph … Zack Ostapchuk was called up from Belleville, but didn’t end up playing.
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