The New York Rangers have not won two straight since Feb. 12. The team will look to get back on the winning track when it takes on the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
The Rangers are coming off a 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens that saw the team stifled time and again by their opponents. Coach John Tortorella was furious about his team's effort in front of its home fans. "I thought it was probably one of the worst hockey games I've been involved in. Both teams," Tortorella said. "It was two bad teams playing, and we worse than they were."
Number one goalie Henrik Lundqvist disagreed. "It's a game of patience when you play a team like this," Lundqvist said. "They play extremely boring, but they're a smart team and they didn't give up much." He added, "We played a pretty good game. We just didn't come up with the big plays in the end."
Most concerning of all is the mysterious injury to star forward Rick Nash. Nash was left out for his second straight game and did not take the trip with New York to Ottawa. There has been no revelation about what he is suffering from or if he is injured.
The Senators have won two straight despite being without Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza. Neither of their two victories has been high scoring affairs; the team defeated the Devils 2-1 on Monday before taking down the New York Islanders 3-1 the following day. However, the one constant for the Senators was goaltending. Ben Bishop carried the team to victory on Monday while Craig Anderson shut down the Isles on Tuesday.
Rookie Andre Benoit scored his first career NHL goal in the victory over New York as well. "I've played a few years to get here so to finally score a goal in the NHL is special," Benoit said. "Since I was a young boy I've been thinking about this."
Predictions: The Rangers are the superior team and will win 3-1.
Start Time: 7:30 PM EST
TV: MSG, SNET-E, TVA