Senators snap Rangers streak with shootout victory

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Ottawa Senators snapped New York's five-game win streak with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Rangers in a defensive clash at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson scored the only shootout goal in the bottom of the fifth round with a low wrist shot which went past New York's Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist off the post.

"It was nice to get the win," Karlsson told reporters. "It doesn't really matter that it's him (Lundqvist). We're just from the same country. You don't think about that too much. It was just nice to score."

The Rangers opened the third period with greater urgency and grabbed an equalizer when Brandon Prust scored at 02:45 after Marc Staal's assist as he fell from a trip.

The increased pace led to greater offense opportunities from both sides as the teams combined for 20 shots in the final period.

Craig Anderson returned to action in the Ottawa goal after injury and matched Lundqvist with 29 saves as the Senators (28-37-9) claimed their third win in four games.

The Rangers (40-30-5), seventh in the Eastern Conference, collected one point for the shootout loss and stretched their lead over the eighth-placed Buffalo Sabres to four points.

"These are playoff games. We are battling for our lives right now," said Rangers forward Ryan Callahan.

"Each point means so much. The last couple of games we have approached them like playoff games. Tonight we just didn't have the effort we needed."

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Patrick Johnston)