Defensemen provide spark in Rangers’ road win over Senators
OTTAWA, Ontario — For the Rangers on Thursday night, offense came from the defense.
The Blueshirts’ back end was firing on all cylinders in a 4-2 win over the Senators at Canadian Tire Center, giving the team its fifth win in the last six games as part of one of the more successful stretches of the season.
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Two of the Rangers’ three goals came from the defensecorps, which has been cognizant of its collective need to step up in the wake of losing their No. 1 defenseman, Adam Fox, for the foreseeable future.
Of the seven goals the Rangers have scored in the first two games without Fox, four have come from defensemen.
To put it into perspective: Rangers defensemen — minus Fox’s consistent contributions — had posted just nine goals through the first 27 games of the season.
In losing his defensive partner through at least Christmas, Vladislav Gavrikov has taken his offensive game to another level.
The Russian blueliner scored his second goal in as many games Thursday night, tying his career high of six tallies just 29 games into the 2025-26 campaign.
Carson Soucy and Will Borgen, who made it a 3-1 game in the second period, accounted for the other two.
Now with 16 goals from defensemen, the Rangers rank fifth in the NHL.
The Rangers set the tone early, jumping out to a 2-0 lead less than halfway through the first period.
Artemi Panarin jump-started an odd-man rush by digging the puck out along the boards and springing Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller.
In transition, the Blueshirts captain dished to Zibanejad, who buried his team-leading 10th goal of the season past Senators goalie Leevi Meriläinen.
It was a 2-0 game by the 9:45 mark, when Gavrikov sniped his third goal in the last four games into the top far corner.
The Senators scored both of their goals on the power play.
Both times the home team capitalized with the man advantage, they cutting the Rangers’ lead to one.
After Dylan Cozens scored from the slot in the first period, Senators captain Brady Tkachuk’s one-timer from the circle deflected in off Drake Batherson to make it a one-goal game late in the third.
A late empty-net goal from Panarin, however, put the game out of reach.
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