Senators  2    Rangers  5

Recap: NY Rangers vs. Ottawa

Sports Network | October 3, 2009

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Brandon Dubinsky had two goals and an assist, and the Rangers dominated the Senators, 5-2, in New York's home opener at Madison Square Garden and Ottawa's first game of the season.

Marian Gaborik added a goal and an assist and now has three points in two games since signing a free agent contract with the Rangers, who were defeated by the Stanley Cup champion Penguins on Friday in their season opener. Vinny Prospal scored his first goal with New York since also coming over in the offseason, while Michael Del Zotto notched his first NHL goal in the win.

"Certainly we have our opportunities, and we continue to capitalize on those chances," Dubinsky said. "I thought we did good tonight. We just have to continue to do it. With our offense, the attack we have, we are going to create those chances. We have to score some goals."

Henrik Lundqvist was stellar in net, making 32 saves in the victory.

Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Regin scored for Ottawa, which had a streak of 11 consecutive playoff appearances snapped last season after the team finished with only 83 points. The Senators had been 6-0-1 in their last seven trips to MSG but couldn't continue their winning ways.

Pascal Leclaire, making his Sens debut after spending most of last season with Columbus, allowed four goals on 33 shots in defeat.

After a scoreless first period, the Rangers struck first in the second.

Ottawa had an odd-man rush, but Lundqvist made an excellent save, sending the puck out to Prospal, who went the other way on a 2-on-1 and wristed a shot above Leclaire's left shoulder that barely snuck below the crossbar for his 600th NHL point at 3:20.

Ryan Shannon went in alone on Lundqvist minutes later for the Sens, but his forehand shot was stopped by the goaltender's pads.

Later in the middle period, Gaborik avoided trouble when he dished a cross-ice pass to Dubinsky, who skated into the zone and fired a wrist shot above Leclaire's glove from the left circle at the 10-minute mark for a 2-0 NY lead.

Ottawa's captain helped cut its deficit in half. Jason Spezza beat Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy to the corner and quickly flipped the puck out in front, where Alfredsson flicked it past Lundqvist at 15:36.

New York restored its two-goal margin, though, before the third, as Del Zotto put a slapshot through traffic and past Leclaire for his first NHL goal with 51 seconds left.

"I can't even put it in words; it was an unbelievable feeling," Del Zotto said. "I have to give credit to my teammates, my line mates. (Ryan Callahan) provided a great screen, (Christopher) Higgins made a great pass, and it happened to go in. I was pretty excited."

Dubinsky nearly had his second tally on a breakaway in the third, but the puck hit off the crossbar, and Gaborik followed the shot and stuffed it underneath Leclaire for a 4-1 lead with eight minutes to play.

Dubinsky finally did get his second goal with a shorthanded empty-net tally in the final moments to seal the win for New York. Regin scored for Ottawa with six seconds left to account for the final margin.

"I know we hurt ourselves early taking all those penalties and giving them momentum at their home opener," said Spezza. "They played a better structure and we were scrambling."

The Rangers have won four consecutive home openers...The Senators traded forward Dany Heatley to San Jose just prior to the season for forwards Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek; neither Cheechoo nor Michalek registered a point, and both combined to finish minus-three in the game...The teams split four meetings last season...The teams combined to go 0-for-9 on the power play.