Stanley Cup Playoffs: Lundqvist slams door on Senators
The Ottawa Senators came out flying in game three of their Stanley Cup Playoff series and threw everything they had at the New York Rangers, but they came up on the wrong end of an exciting 1-0 game.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was the star of the show, making 39 stop for the shutout, with many of them coming from point blank range.
Perhaps Lundqvist’s best save came with just under a minute to play in the third period when the Rangers netminder stoned Senators centre Kyle Turris in tight.
Turris and winger Nick Foligno had a fantastic game for Ottawa. The duo generating several great scoring chances, but ultimately were not rewarded on the scoreboard due to the amazing play of Lundqvist.
Unfortunately for Senators fans Craig Anderson was beaten once by public enemy number one: Brian Boyle.
Boyle backhanded a rebound past Anderson with just under eight minutes gone in the third period. It was all the offense the number one seeds would need on Monday night.
It was especially hard to see Anderson take the loss after he preformed so well in the game. The Ottawa goalie again matched Lundqvist save for save the whole night, but was let down by his team’s offensive stars.
Daniel Alfredsson sat out game three with concussion like symptoms after taking an elbow to the head in game two. Alfredsson was replaced by Bobby Butler in the line up. Butler is a decent prospect, but the Senators really missed the spark that their captain brings to the game.
If the Senators are going to come back in this series they are going to need more out of their top line.
Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek have been virtually invisible for the entire round, much of which can be attributed to the tight checking they are seeing by the Rangers, but they are going to need to fight through it if their team has any hope of advancing.
Spezza has been guilty of trying to do too much on his own, and has seemed to fall back into the old habits that used to drive Ottawa fans insane: not shooting the puck, trying to pass through three lanes of traffic, and making ill advised drop passes at the Rangers’ blueline.
Michalek has been working hard, but doesn’t seem to be getting much ice to work with. He will need to continue to use his speed, and his big body to lean on the Rangers defence while he drives to the net, and eventually something should go in for him.
Barring another Lundqvist miracle.
Game four of the series goes Wednesday night at Scotiabank Place.
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[...] of Jakob Silfverberg, or Mika Zibanejad would step in to fill the spot left by Alfredsson, or push Nick Foligno, and Colin Greening into bottom-six checking roles if the captain decides to return for another [...]
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