The Ottawa Senators are making a serious push for the playoffs.
Ottawa picked up a 2-1 win at Madison Square Garden on Monday against the New York Rangers, extending their winning streak to three games and improving to 14-3-2 in their last 19 games since January 25. The Senators sit two points behind the idle New York Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“We’re all clicking as one team,” defenseman Jordan Spence said. “We have 12 more games left. We’re on a playoff push, so hopefully we can keep on doing what we can.”
Shane Pinto and Warren Foegele scored for Ottawa, and James Reimer made eight saves. The Senators allowed just nine shots on goal, setting a franchise record for the fewest in a single game, breaking their previous mark of 11. The last time any team allowed fewer than 10 shots in a game was December 4, 2003.
The defensive effort was made even more impressive by the circumstances. Ottawa lost Thomas Chabot to a right arm injury late in the first period and Lassi Thomson to a lower-body injury early in the second, forcing the team to play more than 33 minutes with just four defensemen. Coach Travis Green said both players will be out for a while.
“Obviously with two defensemen going down, guys have to step up and play a lot more minutes than they’re used to,” Green said. “It was just a real good team win.”
Spence played a career-high 26:44. Tyler Kleven and Artem Zub also logged heavy minutes to fill the void.
For the Rangers, the loss stretched their skid to five games without a win. New York managed just nine shots on goal, tying a team record dating to December 11, 1955, and the fewest since the league began officially tracking shots in 1959-60.
Rangers captain J.T. Miller did not mince words.
“We got outplayed, we got outcompeted,” Miller said. “Things that we’re just not OK with as a group.”
Coach Mike Sullivan echoed the frustration.
“I just think we’ve got to play a game with more commitment,” Sullivan said.
Conor Sheary scored for New York and Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 shots.
Ottawa is now within two points of a playoff spot for the first time since January 3, having been 10 points out as recently as January 30.
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