Ottawa, ON – Henrik Lundqvist posted his first shutout in these playoffs and the New York Rangers took a 1-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 of this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Lundqvist stopped 39 shots for his fourth postseason whitewash and Brian Boyle scored his third goal of the postseason in the third period for the Rangers, who bounced back from a Game 2 loss to take a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series.
Craig Anderson did all he could as he stopped 22-of-23 shots, but it was not enough as the Senators are now in the hole and will have to rally if they want to win a playoff series for the first time since going to the Cup Finals in 2007.
Ottawa played the game without captain Daniel Alfredsson, who suffered a concussion in Game 2 after he was elbowed in the head by New York's Carl Hagelin, who served the first of a three-game suspension for the hit. Alfredsson had skated in Monday morning's practice and had passed a baseline test, but was a scratch prior to the game.
Game 4 of this set is scheduled for Wednesday in Ottawa.
The only goal of the game came moments after Lundqvist made a save on a Colin Greening tip and his follow up on the rebound.
A blast from the right point by Dan Girardi went wide of the net, but it came to the right side of the net where Boyle backhanded it in to score for the third straight game at the 7:35 mark.
From there, the potential Vezina Trophy candidate made the slim margin stand as he made 14 stops in the third, including a tough stop on a Kyle Turris one- timer down low in the final minute with Anderson on the bench for an extra attacker.
Lundqvist made a couple of more stops before the horn sounded as the Rangers grabbed home-ice advantage back in the series.
The first two periods passed scoreless, but Lundqvist was certainly the busier of the two goalies as he stopped 25 shots through the first 40 minutes and Anderson made 16 saves.
The Rangers nearly scored with about nine minutes to play in the second when Ruslan Fedotenko put a shot on net from the left side. The puck got behind the goaltender, but didn't cross the line before being swept away.
Lundqvist kept the game scoreless 2 1/2 minutes later when he stopped a Jim O'Brien tip on net from down low.
Game Notes
Ottawa forward Matt Carkner served his one-game suspension on Monday due to instigating a fight with Boyle in Game 2...On Monday, the NHL fined Ottawa Senators forward Zenon Konopka $2,500 and the Senators franchise $10,000. Konopka directed verbal abuse towards a Rangers player who was conducting a live televised interview during the warm-ups prior to Game 2...Forward Chris Kreider took Hagelin's spot in the New York lineup and in just over 11 minutes he had one shot...Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.