OTTAWA – After a furious comeback fuelled by Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s heroics, the Ottawa Senators are halfway to a berth in the Eastern Conference final.
It is only the second time in team history the Senators have led a playoff series 2-0.
They appeared destined for a split with the New York Rangers on a sloppy Saturday afternoon at Canadian Tire Centre until Pageau tipped home two shots in the final four minutes of regulation to complete his second career playoff hat trick.
That sent the packed building into delirium and forced extra time, where Pageau added his fourth goal 2:54 into double-overtime.
He was on a 2-on-1 with Tommy Wingels and beat Henrik Lundqvist high to freeze the clock.
Of immediate concern for the Senators was the status of Clarke MacArthur, who played just two shifts after taking a big open-ice hit from Ryan McDonagh late in the first period. While there was no immediate word on his condition, the veteran winger had recently returned from his fourth concussion in 18 months.
It was an afternoon of mixed emotions for the locals.
Had you told the Senators they were going to get three power plays inside the opening 11 minutes, they would have been thrilled.
The only problem is things didn’t go quite as planned. They were outshot 2-0 by the Rangers during that six minutes of man-advantage time and outscored 1-0.
Michael Grabner – who hit a post and missed a breakaway chance in Game 1 – completed a short-handed 2-on-1 with Jesper Fast to open the scoring at 4:16.
The most dangerous chance Ottawa could muster at 5-on-4 was an Erik Karlsson point shot that rang off the left post, but Pageau made up for the missed opportunities. He intercepted a wayward Dan Girardi pass in the neutral zone and beat Henrik Lundqvist from a bad angle off the rush at 13:59.
The Rangers pulled ahead in the second period.
First Chris Kreider shook off Viktor Stalberg and beat Craig Anderson while being knocked to the ice by Mark Stone, and then Derek Stepan scored New York’s second short-handed goal of the afternoon off the rush.
Marc Methot responded inside a minute with his first goal of the entire season, but Brady Skjei made it 4-2 soon after on a long point shot that dipped between Anderson’s legs.
The Rangers were controlling much of the play, but saw their lead cut to one early in the third period when Stone knocked home a puck that bounced into the slot off the end boards. Skjei’s second made it 5-3 before Pageau’s two late goals set up overtime.
The series now shifts to New York for Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.