Senators spoil Kane debut with Rangers

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers lost their first game with Patrick Kane, 5-3 to the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

The forward, traded to the Rangers by the Chicago Blackhawks in a three-team deal that included the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, was
minus-2 with four shots on goal
in 19:36 of ice time in his first game since Feb. 22.
"The crowd and coming out for warmups and the pregame introduction, first game as a Ranger was a pretty cool experience," said Kane, who played his first 16 NHL seasons with Chicago. "Obviously I would have liked to play a little bit better and come out with a win. Hopefully it will come. I haven't played in a little bit, maybe a little bit rusty, but excited to get feeling good with this team."
Derick Brassard scored twice in his 1,000th NHL game, Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists, and Cam Talbot made 29 saves to help Ottawa (31-26-4) to its fourth consecutive victory. Jakob Chychrun was plus-1 and played 19:16 in his Senators debut after the defenseman was traded from the Coyotes on Wednesday.

Chychrun, held out by Arizona since Feb. 10 for trade-related reasons, took an overnight flight to New York, and it was unknown if he would play. He was attended to by a trainer following a hit by Filip Chytil at 10:37 of the third period but flexed his legs, skated to the bench and finished the game.
"Yeah, it was scary," Chychrun said. "I didn't know, it hurt a little bit, but I think I got away with one, so I'm quite relieved and might just be a little sore here for a day or two. So just I'll take care of her and get back at it. A long night, not much sleep, a couple of delays and nice New York traffic this morning, but a couple of naps and I just got ready. It's been a long time since I've played, so it felt like it took a period or two to get my legs under me and I'm sure I'll just continue to feel better."
Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba and Vladimir Tarasenko scored, and Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves for New York (35-18-9), which is 2-4-1 since a seven-game winning streak. The Rangers won 3-2 at the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime Wednesday.

New York failed to convert on a five-minute major and game misconduct given to Austin Watson for charging Tyler Motte and was 0-for-4 on the power play. Watson elbowed Motte in the face against the glass at 12:49 of the first. Motte left the game with an upper-body injury, and Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said the forward is day to day.
"There was some good and there was a lot of bad, but there was some real good stuff too," Gallant said. "They were good 5-on-5 for the most part, but I thought the power play hurt us, just trying to be too pretty and too many passes. Bottom line is you have to put the puck in the net, and we didn't do that."
Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 6:31 of the first period with a backhand on a breakaway after Adam Fox fed him at center ice.
Shane Pinto tied it 1-1 by banking in a rebound at 9:42 of the second period. Mathieu Joseph then won a puck battle in the corner and found Brassard for a tip-in and a 2-1 lead at 10:03. It was Ottawa's second goal in 21 seconds.
Trouba tied it 2-2 at 12:15 by getting open in front and deflecting a shot off Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot.
Tarasenko put New York ahead 3-2 at 14:54, taking Mika Zibanejad's stretch pass from behind the blue line and finishing a partial breakaway. It was his second goal in two games -- he scored the game-winner Wednesday -- and fourth in 11 games since he was traded to the Rangers by the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 9.

Brassard (1:36) and Giroux (3:26) scored 1:51 apart in the third for a 4-3 Senators lead.
"I was just coming in and trying to play hard. I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life," Brassard said of the two-goal milestone game. "It was awesome. I was up early this morning, and my head was spinning around."
Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk's goal at 5:22 was overturned after New York challenged for offside, but
Tim Stutzle
scored into an empty net at 17:18 for the 5-3 final.
The Senators are 11-3-1 in their past 15 games dating to Jan. 25 and have scored 22 goals in their past four.
"Our top guys, our leadership group and tonight that top line (Tkachuk, Stutzle, Giroux)," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "There's been a lot of good efforts from our goaltending, our back end and some unsung scorers. We found a way to win."
NOTES: Motte's injury left the Rangers with 11 forwards and five defensemen. They began the game one player short, with defenseman Ryan Lindgren (upper body) missing his third consecutive game and defenseman K'Andre Miller serving the second of a three-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct. … Kreider scored his seventh short-handed goal since 2021-22, the most in the NHL over that span. … Senators forward Julien Gauthier was minus-1 in 6:12 in his first game at the Rangers since they traded him in the deal for Motte on Feb. 19. … Brassard has 543 points (213 goals, 330 assists) in 16 NHL seasons.