New York: Oscar Lindberg scored two goals, Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves and the New York Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Thursday night to tie their Eastern Conference semi-final series at two games apiece.
Chris Kreider and Nick Holden also scored and Tanner Glass added two assists for the Rangers, who have won four consecutive home games this postseason.
Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson made 17 saves before being replaced by Mike Condon for the third period. Condon finished with nine stops.
Senators star defenceman Erik Karlsson also left the game after the second period with an injury. Karlsson played during the first round with two micro-fractures in one of his feet from blocking a shot late in the regular season.
Game 5 is on Saturday at Ottawa.
Lundqvist has stopped 48 of his past 50 shots after allowing six goals in the Senators’ double-overtime win in Game 2.
Lindberg scored both of the Rangers’ second-period goals. Glass, playing his second consecutive game, blocked Ben Harpur’s shot and Michael Grabner grabbed the loose puck and broke in with Lindberg, who scored on a one-timer at 2:01.
Glass also helped set up Lindberg’s next goal. He outworked Senators defenceman Cody Ceci for the puck behind the Ottawa net and sent it to the boards. J.T. Miller grabbed the loose puck and passed to Lindberg at the point for a 3-0 lead at 15:54. Lindberg also scored the Rangers’ final goal in their Game 3 win.
Kreider made it 4-0 with a power-play goal at 10:45 of the third.
Turris scored at 13:34, but the Senators had trouble generating sustained pressure against Lundqvist and were sloppy with the puck at times.
For the second consecutive game, the Rangers controlled the first period. In Game 3, they scored the first two goals and outshot Ottawa 15-5. On Thursday, they outshot the Senators 11-7 and opened the scoring again.
Holden led a breakout from the defensive zone and sent a pass to Kevin Hayes at centre ice. Hayes passed back to Holden along the left wing and he broke in towards the net and beat Anderson with a wrist shot that went over his right pad at 14:04.
The Rangers have scored the first goal in each game of the series.
