New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators

Tkachuk and Tarasenko score twice to help Senators rout Rangers 6-2

Anton Forsberg made 33 saves for the Sens, while Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson also scored for the Senators (10-10-0).

“Obviously, it gives us confidence,” said Forsberg. “We know we can beat the best teams in the league if we play the right way, we just have to play the right way every night and be more consistent.”

Consistency has been hard to come by this season for the Senators, but with a heavy schedule this month finding their game will be key for Ottawa.

The Rangers, who came into the game with points in 17 of their last 19 (16-2-1), were far from impressed with their effort.

“Just kind of turn the page,” said Jacob Trouba. “Nobody’s dog died. We lost the game. Obviously, we didn’t like how we played. You’re going to have some games like that. I think, get some rest, and get ready to play the next one.”

Artemi Panarin and K’Andre Miller scored for the Rangers (18-5-1), while Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots.

Trailing 5-2 to start the third period, the Rangers had a great chance to get back in the game with a two-man advantage for 85 seconds but failed to capitalize.

“I think we did some really good things defensively as well,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith. “And I think it was really good for our penalty kill to kill that 5-on-3 and get a bit of confidence.”

Trailing 2-0 after the first, New York looked to get back in the game and while they had a better second period in the end the Senators led 5-2 after 40 minutes.

Panarin had a power-play goal just 39 seconds into the second to make it 2-1, but Tarasenko regained the two-goal lead with his first in 13 games. Miller got the Rangers right back in it scoring 22 seconds later.

“First of all, we knew it was the best team in the league right now with the best record, I think,” said Tarasenko. “We played well and personally it’s nice to score goals. It’s been a while so I’ll try to do it more often.”

Ottawa made it 4-2 when Batherson buried a Tarasenko rebound. Blake Wheeler looked like he had a sure goal, but Jakob Chychrun batted it out of the air to help Forsberg out.

Tkachuk scored his second late in the period taking a rebound off the back boards and beat Shesterkin short side.

“There’s things we did that didn’t give ourselves the best chance at being successful,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “I think that they’re easy things to fix, but the second period was a track meet.

“I mean, it went up and down the ice at 100 miles an hour. One way going 100 is fine, but the other way, we have to have better reads and better decisions coming out of offensive zone play.”

UP NEXT

Rangers: At Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Senators: Host Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

OTT leads series 1-0