Brendan Shanahan scored two goals and the Rangers beat the Senators 5-2 Saturday, handing the Eastern Conference champions their sixth straight loss.
The Rangers moved a game behind Ottawa for the conference lead.
“We came in here definitely catching a team down,” Shanahan said. “And when a team is down you want to jump on them and you don’t want to give them a chance to build confidence and build good things.”
Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for his league-leading 14th win. Jaromir Jagr, Dan Girardi and Blair Betts also scored for New York, which took a 4-0 lead before Joe Corvo and Dany Heatley scored for Ottawa.
*Ales Kotalik had two goals, and Jaroslav Spacek had a goal and two assists to lift the Sabres over the struggling Hurricanes 8-1.
Sabres won six of their last seven. Carolina lost for the sixth time in the last nine games.
*Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen was recalled from an AHL reconditioning assignment after missing 16 games with a groin injury. The Thrashers sent goaltender Ondrej Pavelec back to the Wolves, their AHL affiliate. …
Wild center Wes Walz retired, ending his 13-year NHL career with 109 goals and 151 assists in 607 games.
