Rangers’ road losing streak hits six after 7-4 loss to Senators

The New York Rangers paid the price for a slow start on Saturday night. The Blueshirts failed to overcome a pair of three-goal deficits and lost their sixth in a row away from Madison Square Garden, 7-4 to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.

The Blueshirts trailed 3-0 and 4-1 and never caught up as they fell to 0-5-1 in their last six road games. They got within one goal twice but couldn’t get the equalizer before Ottawa put the game away with empty-net goals by Mike Amadio and Drake Batherson.

Will Cuylle, J.T. Miller,Alexis Lafreniere and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for the Rangers, who haven’t won away from MSG since a 2-0 victory in Detroit on Oct. 2. Dylan Garand finished with 18 saves in his seventh straight start. He wasn’t great — but he got little help from his teammates for most of the night.

Batherson’s empty-netter completed his third NHL hat trick; he also had an assist for a four-point night. Jake Sanderson had a goal and two assists. Tim Stutzle and Dylan Cozens also scored, and Jonas Johansson made 23 saves in his first appearance for the Sens, who placed starting goaltender Linus Ullmark on injured reserve Friday with a lower-body injury.

The Rangers will be looking for the seventh win in as many games at home when the Los Angeles Kings come to Madison Square Garden on Monday night. It’s Kings coach Peter Laviolette’s first game back at MSG since the Rangers fired him after a disappointing 2024-25 season.

The Blueshirts then get a much-welcomed five-game break before the Edmonton Oilers make their only visit to the The Garden on Nov. 1.

Rangers’ road losing streak at six after slow start leads to 7-4 loss in Ottawa

The Rangers didn’t have a shot on Johansson until Adam Fox’s long wrister at 9:31. By then, the Senators had used their speed and skill to take a 2-0 lead.

Batherson opened the scoring at 5:34 with his fifth of the season. The Senators forechecked ferociously until Sanderson controlled the puck at the right point, cut into the high slot and found Batherson in the lower left circle. Garand couldn’t get across from his left to right before Batherson’s one-timer found the back of the net.

The early goal revved up the Sens and the Canadian Tire Centre crowd — and the home side gave them even more to cheer at 6:40, when Stutzle scored to make it 2-0. Ottawa came down on an odd-man rush after Claude Giroux picked up a loose puck at his own blue line after a misplay by Braden Schneider and sent Fabian Zetterlund racing down the right side.

Zetterlund carried into the Rangers’ zone and found Stutzle at the left post for an easy goal and a 2-0 lead. Stutzle was wide-open after beating Miller, who turned away from him after Ottawa’s leading scorer breezed past him.

The Rangers got their first power play when Artem Zub was called for high-sticking Taylor Raddysh at 9:22. But the man-advantage didn’t last long; Dorofeyev was sent off for high-sticking Ridley Greig 35 seconds later.

New York generated little offense for the rest of the period and needed a big stop by Garand on Nick Cousins late in the period to avoid going into the locker room down three goals.

But the Senators did go up 3-0 just 1:47 into the second period. With Ottawa again buzzing in the Rangers’ zone, Batherson found himself all alone just to the left of the crease and picked up a deflected shot for a quick flip past Garand, who had no chance.

The Rangers avoided further damage by killing off a boarding penalty to Miller at 3:45, then gave Ottawa another chance when Sean Durzi was called for interference at 9:20. But it was the Rangers, not the Senators, who got the next goal.

Noah Laba broke up a play in his own zone and raced the other way on a 2-on-1 break. His perfect pass put Cuylle in alone, and he beat Johansson past the glove at 10:07 to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Rangers technically killed the rest of Durzi’s penalty, but the Sens regained their three-goal lead at 11:21, one second after it expired. Cozens tried a pass into the crease from the goal line to the left of Garand; instead, the puck hit the skates of Rangers defenseman Marcus Pettersson and slid past Garand to make it 4-1.

But instead of quitting, the Rangers stepped up their play and cut the margin to one goal before the end of the period.

Miller made it 4-2 at 12:54 by deflecting Adam Fox’s shot from the top of the right circle past Johansson. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Miller then broke up a play in his own zone, led a 3-on-1 rush and found Lafreniere, who beat Johansson from the slot for his team-high ninth goal at 19:34, sending the Rangers into the second intermission down only 4-3.

The Rangers dominated play through the first 13 minutes of the third period, keeping the Senators pinned in their own zone for long stretches. But they managed just three shots on goal during that stretch — the Senators blocked 13 others.

Ottawa made it 5-3 on another defensive lapse by the Rangers. Schneider fired over the net and Amadio picked up the loose puck. He fed Sanderson, who sprung Greig on a breakaway. Garand stopped that, but his teammates were late getting back and Sanderson put the puck into a wide-open net at 13:38.

The Rangers got within at 15:32 one on a one-timer by Dorofeyev that beat Johansson cleanly for his first goal since Oct. 15 and just his second since opening night. Lafreniere nearly tied the game less than 30 seconds later; his rocket from the slot beat Johansson but clanged off the left post.

The empty-netters by Amadio and Batherson capped another poor defensive night for the Rangers, who looked little like the puck-pressure, defensively structured style that’s marked their play at home.

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