National Hockey League roundup: Senators rebound from early deficit to top Rangers

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The Rangers are heading home with a chance to tie the series back up.

The Senators fired 15 shots in the opening period after finishing with just 23 total in Game 4.

After what happened with Glass in New York, Senators coach Guy Boucher dressed winger Chris Neil, who has played only one game in the last month, as a deterrent. The first coming with just under four minutes left.

The Norris Trophy finalist has been playing through fractures in his left heel all postseason and appeared to aggravate the injury during a sequence of collisions.

The Rangers have gotten through it by making crisp, short tape-to-tape passes, high-percentage dump-ins with multiple forecheckers flying into the zone, and by blocking the Senators' perimeter shots and turning the rebounds into breakaways or odd-man rushes.

"I believe in today's game you have to have four lines that can play", NY coach Alain Vigneault said. "It's 2-2. That's all it is". Along with a few questionable goals in games three and four, the veteran goaltender looks shaky and the Rangers need to bounce on that immediately from the start of the game.

"We have the home ice now", Brassard said. The offense was more than enough for Lundqvist, and the two teams mixed it up with multiple skirmishes near the end in an effort to set the tone moving forward.

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It's not easy to recover from a 2-0 series deficit, especially when you've lost Game 2 in double-overtime, blowing a two-goal lead late in the third period. The biggest thing with him - like other top goalies - you have to get traffic on him. "That's our leader. The concern level is high".

"There is definitely an area as far as structure-wise that I thought we had addressed", Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. Lundqvist made 22 saves, allowing only a late third period goal by Kyle Turris. He jumped on the ice and attempted to test the pain during a stoppage in play but remained in the locker room when the Senators returned for the third period. "I don't think we have to change a whole lot". "We've got to find a way to do it if Karl is not back".

The biggest early buzz at Canadian Tire Centre came when Chris Neil stepped onto the ice for the first time this postseason, hoping to give the Senators a lift after they dropped the previous two games at NY. There are those who wonder if Karlsson will actually play in Game 5 but, at this point, all signs are pointing in that direction.

The home team has been the play all series, but I still feel like the Rangers are the better team. The Rangers have trailed for only four minutes and 11 seconds in this series, in almost 263 minutes of game time. "I was looking to just give us a little more depth scoring". "It's about four lines doing everything right, and that's what you need this time of year". The 30-year-old Shipachyov was third in the Kontinental Hockey League with 76 points on 26 goals and 50 assists in 50 games.

In the postseason, however, each game in a series is like a miniseries, and the Rangers have a bit of a track record to lean on. "We know how strong they are", Boucher said. Out of a possible 202:54 of playing time, they have led for 104 minutes, been tied for 94:43 and have trailed for just 4:11.

The Senators held onto that lead for roughly eight minutes until the Rangers tied it and eventually took the lead. The game resembled a modern-era playoff hockey instead of the free flowing style NY employs.

With this happening the Sens have also seen their 2-0 series lead evaporate and with it so have the hopes of many fans. Lundqvist earned his 61st playoff win to tie Tom Barrasso for 13th on the NHL's career list.

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