Ottawa Senators (18-18-8) at New York Rangers (26-13-4), 7 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Rangers aim for a third consecutive victory when they begin a home-heavy stretch of the season with Tuesday's battle against the Ottawa Senators.
Beginning tonight, the Rangers will play five of six and six of their next eight games in the comfort of Madison Square Garden. New York is 13-6-3 as the host this season and had won five straight at MSG before the rival Islanders notched a 3-0 win there last Tuesday.
Tuesday's contest will be New York's final game before the All-Star break, as it won't play again until visiting the Islanders for a rematch next Tuesday.
The Rangers also followed last week's loss to the Isles with another 3-0 setback in Boston on Thursday, but Alain Vigneault's club rebounded with victories at Columbus and Pittsburgh.
New York slammed the Penguins, 5-2, on Sunday as Rick Nash and Derek Stepan each scored twice to lead the Blueshirts to the key road victory. The win moved the Rangers within two points of Pittsburgh for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Derick Brassard added a goal and an assist on Sunday, while Chris Kreider and Martin St. Louis each had two helpers for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist allowed two goals on 34 shots.
It took all of 26 seconds for the Rangers to get on the board, as Pens defenseman Kris Letang misplayed a puck at the right point in the New York end, and Nash went the other way on a 2-on-1. Skating down the left wing, Nash opted to shoot and beat Marc-Andre Fleury to the short side for a 1-0 advantage.
Just under six minutes later, New York took a 2-0 lead when Brassard slapped a shot home for his 12th of the season.
"I'm real pleased with how we played this afternoon," said New York head coach Alain Vigneault. "I thought we played a real solid game on both ends of the ice."
New York is currently even with Washington in the Metro standings at 56 points, but the Rangers hold the tiebreaker due to having played two fewer games. The Blueshirts are seven points behind the Islanders for second place in the division.
Ottawa, meanwhile, is 10 points out of a playoff spot in the East and lost for the fifth time in seven games when it played Saturday against visiting Carolina.
The Senators lost 3-2 to the Hurricanes despite taking a one-goal lead early in the third period. Mark Stone tallied for Ottawa at the one-minute mark of the third, but Justin Faulk tied it for Carolina only 1:21 later and Nathan Gerbe scored the game-winner with 5:41 remaining in regulation.
Cody Ceci also scored for the Senators, while Craig Anderson stopped 25 shots in the loss.
"I thought we didn't have a great start, but we were able to hang in there," said Ottawa head coach Dave Cameron. "As the game went on, we got better, but they did a good job of clogging things up and slowing the game down."
The Sens are on the road for just one game before kicking off a three-game homestand tomorrow night against Toronto before heading into the All-Star break. Ottawa is 9-12-4 on the road this season and 9-6-4 in Canada's capital city.
Tonight's test marks the first of three meetings between the Rangers and Senators this season. Ottawa has won seven straight at MSG and also has claimed six of eight and eight of the past 11 in this series overall.
Anderson will get the start in net for Ottawa tonight. He is 7-4-1 with a 1.94 goals against average in his career against New York. Lundqvist expects to get the call for the Rangers and owns a lifetime 12-15-3 record in this series despite posting a career GAA of 2.17 when facing the Senators.