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Sens win 5th straight with shootout win over Rangers

Oct 30, 2011 - 12:47 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - Milan Michalek scored the game-winning goal in the first round of the shootout, lifting the Ottawa Senators to a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers from Madison Square Garden.

Michalek drifted in on goal slowly and lifted a backhander past the glove side of Henrik Lundqvist to send the Senators to their fifth consecutive victory.

Michalek scored in regulation and added an assist while Jason Spezza netted a pair of goals. Chris Neil scored the other goal for Ottawa, which got 24 saves from Craig Anderson.

Brad Richards netted two goals and added an assist, Ryan Callahan scored and Marian Gaborik scored and had two helpers for the Rangers, who have lost three of their last four contests. Lundqvist made 36 saves in defeat.

Down 4-1 in the third period, Ottawa responded with three straight goals, starting at the 9:18 mark of the third when Spezza tipped one in to make it a two-goal game.

After a minor penalty to Wojtek Wolski at the 12:09 mark of the third, the Senators made it a one-goal game just 40 seconds later as Spezza picked up the puck at the right point and slapped it through the bodies in front and past Lundqvist to make it 4-3.

Ottawa used some fine puck movement to make it all the way back and tie the game at four with just 2:50 remaining in regulation. After Michalek partially fanned on a shot from the right circle, Lundqvist kicked it out but no one picked up Michalek following the shot and he was able to pounce on his own rebound and poke it past the Swedish netminder.

"We're learning to handle adversity," Senators head coach Paul MacLean said. "Some nights we do it well and some nights we don't do it well, but a big part of our foundation is playing hard for 60 minutes. We've been getting rewarded for doing that the last few games."

Ottawa grabbed the lead at just over thirteen minutes into the opening stanza when Filip Kuba fired a shot from the point that went off the skate of Neil in front and redirected past Lundqvist for a 1-0 lead.

Early in the second period, Zenon Konopka was given a major boarding penalty for crushing Artem Anisimov into the wall and New York would make Konopka's team pay for his reckless hit, scoring twice with the man advantage.

The first goal came at the 6:24 mark of the second when Callahan picked up a rebound at the right circle off a point shot from Richards and fired it in behind Anderson to knot the game at one.

The Rangers would take the lead just 1:20 later when Gaborik picked off a clearing attempt at the left point and found Richards at the left circle. The prized free-agent signing then snapped it through the legs of Anderson.

The Rangers made it a 3-1 game at the 4:53 mark of the final period with some good movement off the rush. Gaborik brought the puck into the offensive zone on the left wing and dumped it down behind the net. After the pass, the crafty winger went straight to the front of the net, where he got a pass from Derek Stepan and one-timed it in behind Anderson.

A horrific turnover by Ottawa in the defensive zone resulted in New York's fourth goal of the game with 11:55 to go in the third stanza. Richards dumped the puck into the zone and Kuba went back to retrieve, but fumbled the puck trying to make an outlet pass. It wound up on the stick of Richards in the left circle and he fired it home for a 4-1 Rangers lead.

"It's really frustrating," Callahan said. "You have a 4-1 lead at home with less than 10 minutes left, you have to find a way to win that game. We have to realize how to control those momentum swings. They came at us, they scored one and we have to try to get the momentum back, we didn't do that."

Game Notes

The teams split their four game season-series last year...The Senators longest win streak last season was four games...New York went 2-for-4 with the man advantage, while Ottawa was 1-for-4 on the power play...The Rangers will welcome the San Jose Sharks on Monday, while Ottawa will head home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.