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Gerber, Senators blank Rangers

Oct 7, 2007 - 3:48 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Martin Gerber continued his razor-sharp play in place of Ray Emery.

Gerber registered his seventh career shutout and first of the season by stopping all 35 shots he faced and captain Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and an assist as the Ottawa Senators defeated the New York Rangers, 2-0, on Saturday.

With Emery still recovering from left wrist surgery in June, Gerber is doing his best in his absence.

"I felt good tonight, and the guys did a great job in front of me," Gerber said. "Most of their shots were from the outside, and although they had a lot of shots, I was able to see just about everything."

Gerber, who is 13-1-2 in his last 16 starts, made nine saves in the first period, 13 in the second and 13 in the third. It was Gerber's first shutout since blanking Florida on February 14.

The 33-year-old made 41 saves for Ottawa in Thursday's 3-2 win over Toronto, allowing the Senators to complete the home-and-home sweep of the Maple Leafs.

"It's a great luxury to have two goaltenders on this team that are No. 1 goaltenders. It's a nice feeling to have." Alfredsson said. "We feel confident no matter who is back there for us, and it allows us to focus on our game plan every night."

Ottawa took advantage of a pair of poor line changes by New York, scoring its goals 53 seconds apart in the first period.

Although the Rangers were on the power play, they were scrambling to complete a line change as play entered the Senators' offensive zone. Mike Fisher skated freely into the corner to retrieve the puck before feeding it into the slot to Andrej Meszaros.

The hard-charging defenseman beat goaltender Henrik Lundqvist high to the stick side to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead.

"I turned around and saw (Meszaros) following up," said Fisher, who missed most of the preseason while recovering from a nagging groin injury. "He read the play perfectly and I just threw it out to him. He was able to go upstairs with it to finish it off."

The Senators remained on the offensive, taking advantage of Rangers teammates Chris Drury and Jason Strudwick skating into each other. A 2-on-1 advantage resulted for Ottawa, and although Jason Spezza's wrist shot sailed wide, he retrieved the puck and centered it to Alfredsson, who wristed it underneath Lundqvist's right arm for his fourth goal of the season.

"I didn't realize I was alone and had that much time," Alfredsson said. "I tried to get the shot off quickly and it snuck under his arm."

Lundqvist, who made 31 saves, continues to have his difficulties against the Senators. The 25-year-old is 2-6-0 in nine career games vs. Ottawa.

To make matters worse for the Rangers, left wing Sean Avery left the game in the first period with an apparent right shoulder injury.

Avery, who was looking up ice, was hit by Ottawa's Chris Neil in the offensive zone with 7:23 gone in the opening session. Neil received an elbowing minor on the play.

"I thought it was a clean hit," said Neil, who took 13 minutes in penalties - including five for fighting Strudwick in the first period. "I didn't hit him with my elbow at all. I got him with my shoulder.

"When the coach tells you it was a good hit, then you know you don't have to change anything. I've been hitting that way my whole career. But sometimes the refs make those calls. What are you going to do?"

Avery grimaced after the hit before heading to the bench. He did not return to the game.

New York coach Tom Renney felt that although the game was closely contested, Ottawa gave the Rangers very little room with which to work.

"To be honest with you, if it wasn't for that shorthanded goal, it could've gone either way," Renney said. "They did the fundamentals in blocking shots and getting into the shooting lanes. They kept us at the top and contained. We turned the puck over when we countered.

"Then when we tried to move the puck around, we didn't have time to shoot it. They did those things really well and they didn't give us much in the way of shots. It was a case of too little, too late."