Ottawa, ON – Ben Bishop made 24 saves to register his second career shutout, and the Ottawa Senators scored twice in the third period to pull away for a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers at Scotiabank Place.
Andre Benoit, Guillaume Latendresse and Colin Greening each scored in the Senators' third consecutive win and sixth triumph in seven games, with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Neil each contributing two assists on the evening.
"It's always nice when you get the win against a good club like that," said Bishop. "I thought the guys in front of me played unbelievable."
The Rangers had their offense clicking in a 5-2 verdict over Philadelphia on Tuesday, but went 0-for-4 on the power play and mustered few scoring chances en route to a third setback in their last four contests.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26-of-28 shots for New York.
Lundqvist was able to match Bishop most of the way over the first two periods, and the game appeared destined to remain scoreless entering the second intermission until Ottawa was able to cash in a power-play opportunity.
With New York's Anton Stralman in the box for a hooking infraction, Benoit rifled a drive from the right point that made its way through a screened Lundqvist to break the stalemate with just 49 seconds left in the middle session.
Lundqvist had come up with 20 saves prior to Benoit's goal, as well as a diving stop while coming out of the crease that thwarted a breakaway attempt from Ottawa's Jim O'Brien just over six minutes into the second period.
The Senators were able to kill off a hooking penalty to Jakob Silfverberg prior to the midway mark of the third period to protect their 1-0 edge, and Latendresse gave his team a little breathing room not long afterward.
Zibanejad rushed up the ice with a head of steam during a 3-on-2 situation before giving the puck up to Latendresse, whose wrister from the left circle beat Lundqvist to the stick side with 7:44 left to play.
"I just don't like our 40 minutes," said Rangers coach John Tortorella on the team's performance in the first two periods. "Im just a little frustrated with that after playing the way we did in Philly and not generating any offense until the third period."
The Rangers pulled Lundqvist with around 2 1/2 minutes left, but Greening ended any comeback hopes by taking a backhand feed from Neil and firing the puck into the vacated net from close to center ice with 2:02 remaining.
Game Notes
Bishop's first shutout came via a 39-save effort at Edmonton on Feb. 25, 2011 ... Zibanejad now has posted five assists over his last four games ... Ottawa topped the Rangers for the fifth straight time in regular-season play, with three of those wins coming this season ... The Senators improved to 13-2-3 at home and 16-3-4 when ahead or tied after one period ... Rangers center Brian Boyle participated in his 300th career NHL game ... New York signed forward Mats Zuccarello, who appeared in 52 games with the club over the last two seasons, on Thursday. The 25-year-old had been playing with Magnitogorsk Metallurg of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.
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