Ryan Callahan Leads Rangers Past Senators in Series Opener

Ryan Callahan Leads Rangers Past Senators in Series Opener
Jojo Doria

NY, NY

Ryan Callahan scored midway through the first period, Marian Gaborik and Brian Boyle tacked on tallies in the second and the New York Rangers went on to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 in an Eastern Conference playoff opener.

Henrik Lundqvist collected 30 saves in the win, helping New York build a 4-0 lead before the Senators broke through with a pair of goals late in the third period.

Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Condra scored in the final 10 minutes of the third period, but it was too late for the Senators to make a serious run at winning the opener.

The Rangers host the Senators again Saturday night before the series heads back to Ottawa for games 3-4.

Senators goalie Craig Anderson was terrific at times, but Ottawa had several turnovers that left him helpless, particularly on Gaborik's goal in which he deked out the netminder and slipped a shot past him.

Gaborik was following up on an outstanding regular season in which he scored 41 goals.

Brad Richards continued his strong play of late, scoring 2:15 into the final stanza to give the Blueshirts a 4-0 lead.