The New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators take center stage in the NHL Thursday night, as the two teams face off in the only postseason game on the schedule.The Senators lead their conference semifinal series by a 2-1 margin, but their hold is tenuous. The Rangers forced the action in the second game in Ottawa and held the lead for much of the game before the Senators were able to ride the hot hand of Jean-Gabriel Pageau and his four-goal effort to an overtime win.When the two teams left Canada's capital city and moved onto New York's Madison Square Garden, the Rangers looked like a different team. They jumped on top early with a couple of first-period goals and pressed their advantage for 60 minutes.The result was a strong 4-1 victory Tuesday night by New York, and if the Rangers can come close to that performance on Thursday night, they should have an excellent chance of tying the series.The Anaheim Ducks tied their conference semifinal series with the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night with a 4-3 overtime victory.Postseason star Jakob Silfverberg scored 45 seconds into the extra session after taking a cross-ice feed from Ryan Getzlaf and blowing the puck past goaltender Cam Talbot.Silfverberg's goal was his eighth of the series, while Getzlaf had a magnificent four-point night. The Ducks were victorious in both games in Edmonton after the Oilers opened the series by winning two games at Anaheim. The series resumes Friday night in Anaheim.Getzlaf's performance was the subject of much of the talk in the Anaheim locker room after the game."He's been the difference in this series for us," said teammate Andrew Cogliano, per Lisa Dillman of NHL.com. "When he starts playing like he can, I think our whole team just follows suit. There's no word to describe how good he's been."The Capitals had a chance to win their second-consecutive road game and tie their series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Mike Sullivan's team refused to feel sorry for itself after losingSidney Crosby (concussion) and held on for a 3-2 victory.The Penguins lead the series 3-1 and will have a chance to clinch the series in Washington Saturday night.Patric Hornqvist gave the Penguins an early 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the first period, and that allowed Mike Sullivan's team to set the pace in the game. Jake Guentzel added to the advantage with his ninth goal of the postseason before the Capitals came back to tie the score on goals by Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nate Schmidt before the midway point of the second period.However, Justin Schultz scored on a power play less than three minutes after Schmidt tied the score, and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made that goal stand up.It was quite a performance without Crosby, who absorbed a hit to the head by Washington's Matt Niskanen Monday night and was unable to play.The St. Louis Blues return home Friday night and find themselves in a 3-1 hole after dropping both games in Nashville. The story in this series has been the Predators' overall physicality and the consistent scoring they have been getting from their blue line.Ryan Ellis has scored a team-leading four goals in the postseason, while Roman Josi has added three. P.K. Subban has added a goal and five assists, and the Blues have not been able to match that kind of productivity from their defensive crew.As a result, they will be playing for their postseason lives in front of their home fans.
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