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Dose: Sens live to play again

Michael Finewax
Teammate Jean-Gabriel Pageau also had a big night for the Sens

The New York Rangers eliminated Pittsburgh on Friday while the Senators, with their backs to the wall, won in Montreal. The Wild moved ahead in their series with a 4-1 win over St. Louis.

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OTTAWA 5 MONTREAL 1


And the Senators live on to fight another day!

Montreal came back to the Bell Centre with a 3-1 series lead and hoping to finish off the Senators but Ottawa fought off the Habs to win their second straight and they will try to even the series at three on Sunday.

Bobby Ryan led the way with a couple of goals. They were the first two he has scored in 16 games, dating back to March 19 and the Senators are going to need him to continue to score if they hope to win the series and become only the fifth team to start off down 3-0 before winning a best-of-seven series. The 1942 Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and last year’s Los Angeles Kings squad have been the only NHL teams to do so and the Senators are trying to be number five.

Patrick Wiercioch, Erik Karlsson and Erik Condra also found the back of the net as the Senators took the game to the Canadiens.

Defenseman Tom Gilbert gave Montreal some hope when he scored 1:44 into the third to make it 3-1 for Ottawa but Condra’s goal at 14:02 ended the Habs chances to end the series.

Craig Anderson was sensational in net for the Senators as he turned aside 45 shots for the win while Carey Price stopped only 20 of 25 shots for the loss.

Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad each had two assists while Zack Smith had 10 hits.

Clarke MacArthur suffered a lower body injury in the second period and did not return.

NEW YORK RANGERS 2 PITTSBURGH 1 (OVERTIME)

The same can’t be said for the Penguins as they dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Rangers and now are headed home and out of the post-season as they lost the series four games to one.

Carl Hagelin scored the OT winner 10:52 into the first overtime to send the Penguins to the golf course.

Derek Stepan on the power play, opened the scoring for the Rangers as he scored 12 seconds after Nick Spaling went to the penalty box for tripping Martin St. Louis.

The Penguins tied it up late in the second stanza as Spaling atoned for the penalty by banging home his first of the playoffs with Sidney Crosby and Steve Downie drawing the assists.

There was great goaltending at both ends of the ice as Henrik Lundqvist stopped 38 shots while his counterpart Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves before Hagelin ended the series with the winner.

Mats Zuccarello took a puck to his face late in the first period and did not return.

The Rangers will now face the winner of the Washington-Islanders series. The Capitals lead three games to two with Game 6 on Long Island Saturday.

MINNESOTA 4 ST. LOUIS 1

Nino Niederreiter scored the eventual winner with more than five minutes to go in the second period as the Minnesota Wild defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 6 headed back to Minnesota Sunday.

Devan Dubnyk continued his amazing play since the Wild acquired him from Arizona in January as he stopped 37 shots for the win.

Jake Allen was less than stellar in the Blues net as he managed to allow four goals on only 19 shots as St. Louis is in trouble once again in the playoffs as they look to make another first round exit.

Vladimir Tarasenko continued his terrific series as he opened the scoring with his sixth goal in five games but that was all the Blues could muster against Dubnyk and the Wild.

Marco Scandella evened things at one in the first period, while Mikko Koivu on the power play, and Charlie Coyle at the 14:50 mark of the third period, completed the goal scoring.

The Wild have won all the odd numbered games with St. Louis winning the even numbered games (two and four). The Blues backs are against the wall and it remains to be seen if coach Ken Hitchcock, who could be out of a job if the Blues lose in the first round again, goes to Brian Elliott in goal or sticks with Allen.