New York Rangers: The Rangers Have Shut Down the Senators Stars

Some of the Ottawa Senators’ top forwards have struggled to produce in the series against the New York Rangers.

The Ottawa Senators have been robbed of their identity by the New York Rangers. The Senators were known for scoring and winning games with their offense. The Rangers have done a great job shutting that down and stealing games three and four of the series.

In game two, the Senators looked more like themselves. They scored six times to best the Rangers 6-5. J.G. Pageau scored four times, including the winner in overtime.

Other than Pageau, there have only been five other scorers for the Senators is series. Not among them are Bobby Ryan and Derrick Brassard, who dominated the first round for the Senators.

Shutting Down Ryan and Brassard

One of the biggest threats going into the series for the Senators was Brassard and Ryan. The familiarity of Brassard and the hot streak Bobby Ryan was on made them capable of inflicting serious damage.

However, that has been far from the case. Neither of the two have a goal in the series and it seems to be taking its toll.

Tensions boiled over at the end of game four for Bobby Ryan. He got into an aggressive scuffle with J.T. Miller that extended the end of the game. He was ejected from the game for his actions.

Limiting Karlsson

Karlsson is probably the Senators best player on a regular night. He is a Norris Trophy winner who is nominated once again this year.

Erik Karlsson has had a hard time getting off the ground as well. He only has one goal in the series that came from the goal line in game one.

It was revealed at the end of the first round that Karlsson had two hairline fractures in his left heel. Despite the injury, Karlsson played through the first round and the first three games in the second round against the Rangers.

Karlsson started game four for the Senators. He played the first two periods fine, despite a collision with Rangers forward Chris Kreider. However, he did not come out for the third period.

There is a chance that Karlsson re-aggravated his injury. It’s also a possibility that the Senators gave up after being down 3-0.

Full Team Struggle

The Rangers have been on all aspects of their game in the past two showings. Their offense is dominating the Senators. But as a whole, the Senators offense has been putrid. They won most of their games this year through scoring and it shows when they don’t score.

Next: New York Rangers dominate the Senators, tie the series

The Rangers will need to continue to play the way they did in games three and four if they want to win the series. Continuing to cut through the Senators defense and shutting down their offense will be key for them going forward.

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