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Rangers eye revenge in clash with Senators

Dec 9, 2010 - 4:09 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Rangers will try to avenge a recent loss to the Senators when they travel to Ottawa for tonight's clash at Scotiabank Place.

The Rangers last played on Sunday, when they hosted the Senators at Madison Square Garden. Chris Kelly lit the lamp three times, including the game-winner with 2:24 left remaining in the third period to lift Ottawa past New York, 3-1.

Kelly completed the first hat trick of his career on an empty-netter with one second left for Ottawa. Pascal Leclaire turned away 25 shots to get his second win of the season.

Brandon Prust scored the lone goal for the Rangers, who were coming off a home-and-home sweep of the New York Islanders. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 22- of-24 shots to record the loss.

"For me it was a tough one to eat because it was still a winnable game," said New York head coach John Tortorella. "I thought we did some really good things. We got some good looks with the power play but we couldn't finish. As poorly as we started, I thought we regrouped and we could have won it."

The Rangers have still won three of their last five matchups against the Sens and the Blueshirts have won three straight and four of their last five in Ottawa. New York is 10-4-0 as the visiting team overall this season and has won three in a row away from the Big Apple.

Ottawa has played a game since defeating the Rangers, but lost Tuesday's contest in Montreal. The 4-1 setback to the Canadiens was the fourth loss in five games for the Sens and their ninth defeat in 12 outings.

Carey Price made 27 stops and Jeff Halpern scored the game-winner early in the third to lift the Canadiens to the victory over their division rivals.

Nick Foligno lit the lamp for Ottawa, while Leclaire was charged with three goals on 33 shots. Brian Elliot briefly spelled Leclaire in the third and stopped one of the two shots he faced.

"It's a disappointing loss," said Foligno. "We thought we had a good game going, but a couple of penalties got their momentum going. We had such a good game against New York two nights ago and we battled tonight to tie it in the first. We played pretty solid, but they got two big penalties and we may have sat back too much."

Tonight's test marks the start of a three-game homestand for the Senators, who have lost three straight in Canada's capital city. Ottawa is 7-7-1 at Scotiabank Place this season.