Rangers score seven unanswered goals in Ottawa
Rangers defenseman Zac Jones celebrates his goal with the bench against the Senators during the second period of an NHL game Saturday in Ottawa, Ontario. Credit: AP/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA, Ontario — In his first game with the Rangers, defenseman Connor Mackey may have had the biggest moment for the club when he dropped the gloves and went toe-to-toe with Senators star Brady Tkachuk in the second period on Saturday night.
The Rangers were down two goals and staring at their third straight loss in their final game before the All-Star break.
But after Mackey’s fight with Tkachuk, the Rangers scored five unanswered goals in the period and two more late in the third for a 7-2 victory at Canadian Tire Centre.
Alexis Lafreniere, Chris Kreider, Zac Jones, Jonny Brodzinski and Blake Wheeler scored in the second period for the Rangers, who had lost four of five.
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves and picked up his first win since Dec. 15. He had lost five straight (0-4-1).
Peter Laviolette earned his 782nd career coaching victory and tied Islanders legend Al Arbour for the seventh-most wins in NHL history. Igor Shesterkin, Vincent Trocheck and Laviolette will represent the Rangers in the All-Star Game on Saturday in Toronto.
Mackey, 27, who has played for Calgary and Arizona, was called up from Hartford (AHL) earlier in the day because the Rangers were without defenseman Jacob Trouba (suspension) and Ryan Lindgren (injury).
Mackey played for Hartford in Cleveland on Friday night. On Saturday, he flew to Ottawa through Newark.
Of his fight, which came after he put a hard hit on Tim Stutzle, Mackey said: “I just hit Stutzle there and then Brady, he asked me to go, and I wasn’t going to turn it down. Hopefully it got the boys going.”
According to the boys, it did.
“It was what we needed,” said Mika Zibanejad, who had two assists. “The guys got fired up. It was a turning point for us.”
The Rangers took the game’s first six shots, scoring on none. A hopeful sign or a bad omen?
Ottawa took a 1-0 lead on its third shot after a giveaway by defenseman K’Andre Miller in the defensive zone. Claude Giroux took the puck and shuffled it to Tkachuk, who beat Quick with a backhander at 11:43.
The Senators made it 2-0 nine seconds into their first power play when Jakob Chychrun scored 1:24 into the second period.
Less than two minutes after Mackey fought Tkachuk, Lafreniere knocked in his 12th goal to make it 2-1 at 5:51.
With the sides skating four-on-four, Kreider tied it with a wrister at 8:33. Thirty-nine seconds later, Jones gave the Rangers their first lead with his first goal of the season and second of his NHL career. He scored off a nifty feed from Panarin, who picked up his 35th and 36th assists.
Jones got into the lineup because of Lindgren’s injury.
“Biggest thing for me is just coming in and playing my game,” Jones said between the second and third periods on MSG Network. “Doing what I can do out there and not being worried about any outside noise, stuff like that. And [Mackey], same thing. Just going out there and playing our games. We’re two very good defensemen and we know what we have to do out there. It [stinks] losing [Trouba and Lindgren]. We just try to fill the shoes best we can.”
Brodzinski made it 4-2 at 11:16 to knock out Ottawa goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
No matter: Blake Wheeler beat replacement goalie Mads Sogaard at 16:54.
Panarin added an empty-netter (his 30th goal) with 2:43 left in the third and Kaapo Kakko scored 35 seconds later.
The Rangers’ much-needed win was just their fifth in 2024. They are 5-6-2.
Now they rest.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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