The Ottawa Senators' reign over the New York Rangers was fun while it lasted.
Two games after Guy Boucher's defensively geared contender dropped a whopping six goals on Henrik Lundqvist, it's the Rangers that have a firm grip on the series momentum after a 4-1 victory -- their second straight three-goal win -- in Thursday's Game 4.
With New York now perfect in its last four games at Madison Square Garden and this series knotted up at 2-2, here are some things to know as the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs rolls onward:
With offense clicking, the Rangers will be hard to stop
This applies mostly to the Senators for the remainder of the second round, but if New York is able to play its game -- as in, bank on its scoring prowess more than anything -- as it did in Game 3 and again on Thursday, Ottawa is in serious trouble.
The Senators' opening-game win over New York was big for Ottawa but not entirely surprising because of Boucher's "D" and some anticipated big plays from Erik Karlsson. The follow-up showdown, in which the Sens refused to back down and adapted to the Rangers' shootout mentality to claim an improbable 6-5 win, was equally important.
But no one expected the Sens to be able to keep up that kind of offensive pace. Two combined goals between Games 3 and 4 has brought that notion to life. And with the Rangers exploding, scoring 13 goals in their last three contests, the odds have to be stacked against a Sens comeback.
Is it too early to think about a Rangers-Penguins conference final?
OK, so this one's far more premature than suggesting the Senators are in a hole, even though their series is tied.
But with the Rangers really starting to click and showcasing the talent that made them an underrated wild-card contender entering the postseason, how can you not smile at the thought of a future clash between New York and the Pens -- who, by the way, might be getting Sidney Crosby back soon?
When the Rangers coast off pristine offensive balance, highlighted Thursday in the form of two second-period goals from Oscar Lindberg, they make for one heck of a potential matchup with the defending champions.
Picture this, except Marc-Andre Fleury and a determined Pens bunch on the other end of the ice:
If the Sens wants to get back in this, they have to be disciplined
The same thing can be said for just about any team that is slammed with 40 penalty minutes in a big Game 4.
But the Senators, with the exception of their 6-5 Game 2 outing, are built to win with small victories marked by tight defense and sound play overall. That means that tightening up and avoiding the penalty box will be just as, if not more, important than finding ways to get more than one goal past Lundqvist.
It's not as if the Sens' Game 4 penalties did much to make them look like the tougher team, either, as Ottawa was repeatedly outmatched and outmuscled by the Rangers.